CBM 8-Bit Magazine Index: Compute's Gazette Special Section

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64/128 VIEW

Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard to fetch
her poor dog a bone, but when she got there, the cupboard

was bare—even the 64 products were gone.

Tom Netsel

funny thing happened

today at our cupboard

for new software. When

| got there and opened

its doors, the cupboard was

bare. There was no new soft-
ware for the 64.

Uh-oh! How can | fill all
those gaping review pages,
when | don't have software
to review? There must be
something in there that I've
overlooked. Desperation
does wonders for one’s pow-
ers of observation.

Aha! There's a package!
It's a little dusty, but |
haven't seen it before. Sure-
ly it's something worth re-
viewing. We can give it a
good workout and milk it for
a few thousand words. It's
bound to be of interest to mil-
lions of Commodore users
around the world.

As | wiped the grime
from the faded software
box, my hopes for filling the
review section faded about
as quickly as a smile ap-
pears on the face of a soft-
ware rep when | ask, “What
do you have new for the
64?" As | struggled to stay
afloat in the cruel waters of
the publishing business, | re-
alized that this thin yellow
package | was grasping
was made of straw—and wa-
terlogged straw at that.

The product must have
slipped from the shelf
above. That’s where we put
the software that never
quite made it into Gazette re-
view pages. That's the shelf
where we stash titles such
as Great Moments in Bowl-
ing for the Adam Coleco or
the VIC-20 version of Ther-
modynamic Equations for
LAN Designers.

In this case, the program
turned out to be a spelling
program from a guy in a

small California town who
worked out of a post office
box. Unfortunately, it was
published in 1984, and was
not the stuff to fill my review
pages.

It's amazing how things
have changed! A few years
ago, when | assigned re-
views for COMPUTE and Ga-
zette, new software titles
vied for attention on several
shelves. The 64 titles were
king. They filled several
shelves at the top of the cab-
inet. Down near the floor,
occupying half a shelf, were
the IBM titles.

The 64 was at its peak.
Dozens of new titles came
in every day. An IBM still
cost megabucks, and its soft-
ware consisted of mono-
chrome productivity titles
that cost $495 each. There
were a few games that util-
ized CGA graphics and man-
aged a puny beep or two,
but they paled next to the
64's 16 colors and three-
voice SID chip.

As the jiffy clock ticked
away, and months turned in-
to years, we had to reallo-
cate shelf space. New titles
for the 64 arrived steadily,
but IBM products hit us with
all the subtlety of a flash
flood. Today we have a
whole room reserved for
IBM software, and the 64/
128 shelf resembles Mother
Hubbard's cupboard.

A few reviews are in the
works, but it'd be nice to
see more new things for the
64 again. So take note, soft-
ware developers: If you
have a Commodore product
that's never been reviewed,
now's a great time to let us
and the rest of the Commo-
dore world know about it.
Send us a review copy;
don’t keep it a secret. a

GAZETTE

64/128 VIEW G-1

It's tough to review new 64 software when the
software companies don't send anything new.
By Tom Netsel.

ONE MAN’S WORK DISK G-2

Pull all of your often-used utilities together, and
spend your time at the keyboard more efficiently with
a customized work disk.

By Don Radler.

REVIEWS G-10

Supra 2400 modem, Panasonic KX-P2123 24-pin
printer, NovaTerm terminal program.

FEEDBACK G-15

Questions and comments from our readers about
converting SpeedScript files to IBM format, learning a
programming language, and more.

BEGINNER BASIC G-18

Customize your keyboard while learning about keys
that are unique to your Commodore.

By Larry Cotton.

MACHINE LANGUAGE G-20
Use a double buffer to produce fine scrolling.

By Jim Butterfield.

GEOS G-22

What's the best input device for use with GEOS?
Examine the alternatives and their drivers.
By Steve Vander Ark.

PROGRAMMER’S PAGE 6-24
Here are some tips and tricks for disk drives.

By Randy Thompson.

PROGRAMS

Drixella’s Dilemma G-25
Character Designer G-27
Smart Format G-32
DLiner G-34
XLogic G-35
Polygons G-38
How to Type In Gazette Programs G-40

SEPTEMBER 1992 COMPUTE G-1

ONE
MAN'S WORK
DISK

MAKE YOUR COMPUTING SESSIONS MORE
EFFICIENT BY CREATING
YOUR OWN CUSTOMIZED WORK DISKS.

BY DON RADLER

ver time, most computer us-

ers develop a collection of

utilities that they find them-

selves using over and over
again. Out of all the programs in a col-
lection, these favorites are the ones
that rise to the surface.

Usually, these gems reside on sev-
eral different disks, arranged in whatev-
er order seemed suitable at the time
they were first saved. You have to re-
member where each one is, refer con-
stantly to some master list, or load and
list disk directories like mad in search
of exactly the right program for this or
that need. Then you have to recall
whether program A is compatible with
program B or just try it and see. As of-
ten as not, the computer locks up.

When | retired a few years ago, | start-
ed playing around with a 64. Through
the dealer who sold me the machine, |
bought someone's collection of sever-
al hundred programs on disk. There
were utilities, applications, games, and
a slew of unidentified—and for quite a
while, unidentifiable—programs.

There was no documentation of any
kind. The only way | could learn any-
thing about the programs was to load
‘em, run ‘em, and list 'em. Painfully, bit
by bit, | became familiar with the 64.
For many people, to know it is to love
it. | proved to be one of those people.

Like most people, | learned about
the PRINT statement first. As some-
thing of a nut about color and compo-
sition, | modified the screens on most
BASIC programs to make them satisfy
my eye. | played with screen color, bor-
der color, POKEs, and so on. | started
reading COMPUTE's Gazette, which be-
came my only tutorial. And | began typ-
ing in the programs it published.

Then | had a stroke of luck: The lo-
cal library sold off its holding of back is-
sues of Gazette at ten cents a copy. |
took advantage of that bonanza with-
out hesitation, buying up the complete
caboodle. It started with the February
1984 issue and ran slightly beyond the
first issue | had bought on the news-
stand. With those and my current sub-
scription, | now have every issue from
early 1984 to the present, with the ex-
ception of June 1989, which is unac-
countably missing. (If anyone has one
to spare, I'd love to have that issue.
The issues before January of 1984
would be of historical value, but are
probably too much to hope for.)

And | kept on typing in programs.

I've Got To Get Organized

Soon | had a truly formidable collection
of programs on disk and a crying
need to get organized. | was begin-
ning to sell some articles and pro-
grams to magazines, so | needed to

G-4 COMPUTE SEPTEMBER 1992

make my programming sessions more
efficient. This meant upgrading all my
work disks, but especially the one |
still keep in the front of the first disk
case, the one | use all the time.

Many necessary utilities are stored
on this disk, including Gazette's MLX
and The Automatic Proofreader. Also
stored are supporting utilities for those
data-entry programs, which I'll discuss
later in this article.

As | discovered new programs and
learned more about using them, my
work disk changed. As | added new
programs, | deleted others. Today, my
work disk doesn't look at all like the
disk it was even a year ago—and it’s

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Utilities such as MLX go on every disk.

still evolving—but it does make my com-
puting life easier and more efficient.
It's no surprise to me that many of
the programs now on that much-used
disk are from Gazette. I've typed in a
good many programs over the years. It
might be of value to other Gazette read-
ers to see how that disk is currently or-
ganized, so here's what works for me.

Work Disk

The first listing is Art Hunkins' Keyload
from the July 1986 issue of Gazette. |
use Epyx's Fast Load cartridge, which
loads and runs Art's program when |
hit the Commodore and Run/Stop
keys simultaneously. Then | simply cur-
sor down to the program | want and hit
Return, and it loads and runs. This se-
quence can be repeated after I've fin-
ished with one utility and I’m ready to

use another one. (If | want to look over
a listing rather than run the program
immediately, | just type an L at the cur-
sor and hit Return—the program loads
and waits to be listed.)

Hunkins gets my thanks for writing a
version for the Fast Load cartridge. For
readers who don't use that cartridge,
Art's regular version for the 64 lets you
merely type LOAD “*" 8 to call up Key-
load to be run or listed.

First Program

| save Keyload with the filename OKEY
for alphabetizing purposes. It's the
first program on most of my disk direc-
tories. It's great for use on my Sound Ef-
fects disk, calling up each sound and
letting me hear it just by cursoring to
the effect and hitting Return. It's really
handy at the top of my Household Help-
ers disk, running First Aid (October
1984), Monthly Calendar (March 1989),
or Speed Reader (February 1984)
when | cursor to it and hit Return.

Save the Monitor

After Keyload, the next program on my
work disk is Monitor Blackout. This pro-
gram was printed in a Gazette “Feed-
back" column (March 1989). If you
think you might be pulled away from
the computer for a while, it pays to run
this short utility at the start of the ses-
sion to protect your monitor's screen
from burned-in characters. If you don't
touch your keyboard after a predeter-
mined length of time, the program
blanks the screen to the border color.
As soon as you hit any key, the screen
returns to normal.

Copy This Disk

Then there's C64 Fast Copy, a disk cop-
ier from Kracker Jax that's the smooth-
est I've tried. It's worth using in place
of the disk copier on the Fast Load car-
tridge. This takes nothing away from
Fast Load. | use it all the time to copy,
scratch, lock, unlock, and rename indi-
vidual files, but not to copy a disk. In
fact, for formatting a disk and copying
or scratching batches of files, | use
“none of the above” and switch to my
Fast Hack 'Em disk from Basement
Boys Software. But its disk copier
doesn't match C64 Fast Copy either.

Alphabetical Order

| keep disk directories alphabetized.
This makes finding programs easier
and speeds up the cataloging process
with the disk-management program |
use, which takes input from directories.
The best program that I've found for
this is a Gazette program called Disk Di-
rectory Sort by N.A. Marshall (March
1985). Although the program is short
(35 lines), it runs too slowly for my

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aste. | compiled it with Blitz!, and now
it moves right along. | can recommend
he compiled version to anyone.

More Utilities

Next is Lou Sander's Disk Name/ID
Changer, a public domain offering
tom the Tip Master himself. This pro-
gram changes headers and ID's with a
minimum of fuss and, so far, with no
glitches.

If you have one program and want
lo add a subroutine or other code with-
out having to type the program in
again, then you need a good merge
program to combine the two. The
merge program | use is by G.A. Pear-
ce, and it comes from an old Transac-
tor Disk, volume 5, number 2. The pro-
gram is hassle-free, and it works with
Fast Load and/or with the K-prefix utili-
ties mentioned below. The only true
merge program | found in Gazette was
Disk Merge (January 1985), but it was
painfully slow.

Another great program is Randy Th-
ompson’s BSAVE Notepad from the
April 1988 issue of Gazette. This su-
premely. handy program lets you jot
notes to disk at any time. When you
run the program, it prints the most re-
cent note on the screen. If you
change that note, it replaces the old ver-
sion with the new one on the disk. You

may enter a screen of text.

Jim Butterfield’s sequential file read-
er in “Machine Language Program-
ming: File Handling” from the same is-
sue is next. This program is written in
machine language and, as with most
of Butterfield’s work, is lean, mean, and
useful. As written, it reads a sequential
file and prints it to the screen. With one
number change in line 350, it will send
its output to your printer.

Then there’s Quick Print by Chuck
Webb from the May 1989 issue of Ga-
Zette. With this program, you can
send lines to the printer one at a time
without first loading a word processor.
It will also work without disturbing what-
ever program you have in memory. It's
great for writing notes about the cur-
rent program or for addressing enve-
lopes or making labels. All it takes to ac-
tivate this program is a simple SYS
address call.

K Utilities

If my work session is going to be one
of writing or entering programs, | disa-
ble Fast Load and go to a group of util-
ities filed on the work disk with the ini-
tial letter K.

First on the list is Braderbund's
Kwikload. | use the Kwikload-1 option
(load at 36096) for compatibility with
the next several programs.

First among many is Multi-Utility
Wedge, Jim Klitzing's fine multifaceted
PD boon to programmers. Among
many other goodies, this utility gives
you a directory reader that doesn't dis-
turb BASIC programs in memory, an
autonumber, renumber, and delete-
lines utility. It also has an instant UN-
NEW command and abbreviated (two-
key) DOS commands including
SCRATCH, UNSCRATCH, RENAME,
and so on. There's also a two-key
screen dump to the printer. On top of
all this, there's a simple text editor that
loads and saves sequential files in stan-
dard ASCII or PET ASCII and can con-
vert files from one format to the other.

For most of my writing chores | use
Gazette’s SpeedScript word processor.
| use it especially for important or for-
ma! documents, but if | want to create
a sequential file in the middle of a pro-
gramming session, Jim Klitzing's text ed-
itor lets me do it. | can write a few
lines; return to BASIC; and, with two key-
strokes, go back into the text editor
where the file sits waiting for me.

Compatible with this programming
marvel (or with Fast Load if I'm not us-
ing the wedge) is Gazette’s One-
Touch Keywords by Mark Niggemann
(June 1984). With Keywords you can
use any of the letter keys in combina-
tion with either the Shift or the Commo-

Of all the titles in your disk library, there
probably are several that have risen to the
top to become the cream of your collec-
tion. These programs, through their
speed, reliability, and ease of use, have be-
come the workhorses that handle the bulk
of your computing chores. In this month's
feature article, “One Man's Work Disk,”
Don Radler talks about his favorites and
how they make his computer time more effi-
cient and enjoyable.

His article started me thinking about my
own work disk here at COMPUTE and how
it's evolved. As editor of Gazette, | need a
good word processor. It probably won't
come as any surprise that the first tool | put
on any disk is SpeedScript, COMPUTE’s
own word processor. (I used it before | start-
ed working here. | typed in the original ver-
sion years ago.)

SpeedScript is a relatively small pro-
gram. | like that because | can store a lot
of files on a disk with the word processor
and keep related material together.

Whenever we write or edit anything for
publication, we usually have a specific
length in mind. Knowing how many words
an article contains is a big help in this re-
gard. Reviews, for example, usually run
750-1000 words. A word processor that
counts words is an indispensable tool for
professional writers. | modified my word

WHAT WORKS AT GAZETTE

processor to include this feature with Jon-
athan Bell's Word Count for SpeedScript
(COMPUTE!, December 1986).

When rewriting or editing, | often like to
compare the original with the revised ver-
sion. This is where Larry Hagney's
SpeedSwap (COMPUTE, September 1991)
comes in handy. It modifies SpeedScript
So you can load two files into memory at
once and switch between them with a key-
stroke. Best of all, SpeedSwap lets you cut
material from one file and paste it into an-
other. This great utility program makes
SpeedScript even more useful.

Articles, program documentation, re-
views, and columns are usually submitted
in SpeedScript, ASCII, or Commodore AS-
Cll, which is also known as PETSCIl. If a
file is in SpeedSeript format, | load it into
my 128, edit it, and then save it back to
disk. From this point, the file must be con-
verted to true ASCIl for additional editing
and typesetting on our PC-based local ar-
ea network.

| can print a SpeedScript file to disk as
an ASCII file, but | usually save it first and
then convert it. For converting, | use Ron
Carnell’s Sequential File Converter for
SpeedScript (COMPUTE!’s Gazette, Octo-
ber 1986). This handy program lets me con-
vert from SpeedScript to ASCII or PETSCII
and from PETSCIl to SpeedScript.

Two other conversion programs | use
are PET to ASCII by Joel Rubin and ASCII
to PET by Dave Paul. Rubin's program was
released in 1983, and Paul's must be near-
ly as old. These programs aren't fancy, but
they're fast and accurate.

| upload files from my 128 to our BBS
and then download them to my Gateway
PC and its network. | use a terminal pro-
gram that | think is called XMODEM Term.
I'm not sure what it’s called, where it came
from, or who wrote it because there's no ti-
tle or author on any of its screens. It con-
sists of a compiled BASIC file and two ma-
chine language files. | needed XMODEM
protocol because COMPUTE's old system
would accept XMODEM transfers only. Oth-
er terminal programs are fancier, but this
gem loads quickly and serves double duty
as a sequential file reader.

After | fill a work disk, | store it away for
safekeeping and create a new one. That's
when | boot Ross Ouwinga’s Fast File Copi-
er (COMPUTE!’s Gazette, September
1986). | tag all the work programs | want—
including Fast File Copier—and it copies
them onto a new work disk.

These are the programs that work for
me. | am comfortable with them. They
make me more productive and my work
easier. Isn't that the whole idea?

—TOM NETSEL

G-6 COMPUTE SEPTEMBER 1992

GAZETTE
D\SK L/BRARY

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SpeedScript $11.95
COMPUTE Publications’ most popular program
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SpeedScript for the 64, SpeedScript 128, spelling
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additional dozen support programs, including
mail-merge and word-count utilities.

Gazette Index $7.95
Every article and department from Gazette—July
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Fourteen of the most important utilities for the

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; speedScript D $11.95
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y_ 128 Classics O $11.95
i Special 6-Disk Offer O $49.95
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dore key to print BASIC keywords to
the screen. Once you've learned the
52-word language, it speeds up writing
and entering programs enormously.
Now I'm spoiled—I wouldn't want to
type in a program without it.

Whenever | type in a program from
Gazette, | always use The Automatic
Proofreader. It's a handy program that
helps me avoid typing errors. These
three utilities are compatible with Proof-
reader, which | enter after the first
three are installed. I've found that
these utilities, when used with Jim Klitz-
ing's autonumbering utility, make typ-
ing Gazette programs almost fun.

Avoid Typos
Whenever | type, | make errors. | do
have a couple of ways to avoid the slow-
downs caused by typing blunders.

| have two Cardco numeric keypads
that | picked up somewhere along the
line. Either one will plug into joystick
port 2. On one, | pasted data-entry let-
ters over the keys, and on the other |
put the MLX keypad letters. | put
Cardco's KBASIC program on the
work disk, along with the sequential
files it lets me create for each of these
conversions. The MLX entry pad is a re-
al timesaver, virtually wiping out the ty-
pos made by my fumbling fingers.
With two keys devoted to commas, the

data entry pad almost eliminates the pe-
riod-instead-of-comma hangup that
Plagues many data-statement entries.

Three Computers
Finally, there is Triple 64 by Feeman
Ng, from the April 1985 issue of Ga-
Zette. This little (seven-line) program di-
vides the 64’s memory into three inde-
pendent 12K sections, each accessi-
ble with SYS 40004 followed by the
number 1, 2, or 3. Within these sec-
tions of memory, different modules of a
program can be entered and tested, or
three totally different programs can be
tried out. It's like having three superfast
12K disk drives at your disposal and
not unlike having a RAM disk. | use
Hubert Cross's 64 RAMdisk from the Ga-
Zette 1988 Special Issue for several pur-
poses, but not for ordinary program-
entering or programming sessions.
Triple 64 works with Kwikload and
the Klitzing wedge installed. Without
that combination, it works with the
Fast Load cartridge enabled. In either
case, it installs itself where it fits and
gives you the correct SYS address to
toggle it on and off.

My Way

If you'd like to try out the Gazette pro-
gram-entry setups, I've found the follow-
ing combinations work well for me. If

you're going to enter BASIC program
listings from the magazine, run
Kwikload-1, then Jim Klitzing's wedge,
then Keyword, and finally Gazette's
Proofreader.

When you want to type in machine
language listings using MLX, run
Kwikload-1 and then KBASIC
(Cardco's keypad software); then call
up the keypad modification for MLX;
and, finally, load and run MLX itself.

By looking over the collection of pro-
grams you've downloaded or typed
from Gazette or other magazines, you
can probably come up with some
gems of your own that you may have
overlooked. By combining your most fre-
quently used programs on one disk,
you can customize a work disk that
will let you work more efficiently.

You may have several work disks on
hand, depending on your computer ac-
tivity at any one time. While my work
disk suits my programming needs, a
computer artist would have an entirely
different set of programs and utilities,
Musical programmers, writers, and
game designers would have their own
customized disks.

So take a look at your files, your us-
er group library, or local BBS offerings
and put together your own custom
work disk. It will make your computer
time much more productive. ao

“Someone's been programming my computer, too!”

G-8 COMPUTE SEPTEMBER 1992

COMPUTER
205-739-0040

4
C AUTHORIZED COMMODORE SERVICE CENTER

MOTHERBOARD REPAIR (Send Board Only)

BANIGAT aa iuheoieteee $90.00: T2O ASTM acacusercotttnogsccd $59.00
COMMODORE DISK DRIVES COMMODORE COMPUTERS
1541 C-64.... $4!

MSD, 1571 : C-128.

COMMODORE MONITORS SX-64 Portabl

1701, 1802, 1084, COMMODORE PRINTERS

D7OZET SCZ S srssraarccassccersexsen $85.00 $75.00

Amiga Call for price

'!! FAST TURNAROUND !!!

All parts and labor included. $7.50 shipping. $15.00 APO and business equipment.

WE BUY ALIVE CABLES AND MISC. PARTS
C64 $ CALL | REG6 PIN DIN $ 4.45 | 901 ROMS $11.95
1541 NEWT CALL | 12'6 PIN DIN 6.95 | STR54041 12.50
1541 ALPS CALL | 18'6 PIN DIN 7.95 | 41464 9.95
SX64 CALL | MONITOR CABLES 4.45 | 6560 PULLS 10,00
1571, C128 CALL | TV SWITCHES 2.50 | 74LS629 4.95
1526/802 CALL | COMMODORE 82S100 12.95
MUST BE COMPLETE KEYBOARD CALL | 325302 9.95
S$CALL ON DEAD DSDD-Disk 25 for 11.95 | 325572 9.50
EQUIPMENT 8701 6.85
8502 9.00
POWER SUPPLIES COMPUTER EQUIPMENT | 6526 12.50
Ccé4 $24.95 | C64 REFR $ 99.00 | 6522 4.50
C128 49.95 | C128 REFR 219.00 | 6520 3.85
1541, 1581 36.75 | 1702 CBM 169.00 | 6532 6.29
AMIGA 500 75.95 | CBM 1541 ALPS 159.00 | 6502 2.85
AMIGA 1000 134.95 | STARNX1000C 199.00 | 6510 9.95
AMIGA 2000 141.98 | EPSON INTERFACE 53.95 | 6581 12.50
6567 19.95
4164 2.75
COMPUTER SHOPPE OF ALABAMA | ;,.; 16.85

1310 2nd Ave. NW, Suite C 128 UPGRADE i
Cullman, AL 35055
g ROMS 23.65
DEALERS SEND FOR PRICE SUBJECT TO $25.00 MIN ORDER
PARTS CATALOG CHANGE

Circle Reader Service Number 178

Yes, save time and money! Subscribe to the Gazette
Disk and get all the exciting, fun-filled Gazette pro-
grams for your Commodore 64 or 128—already on
disk!

Subscribe today, and month after month you'll
get all the latest, most challenging, and fascinating
programs published in the corresponding issue of
COMPUTE.

New on the Gazette Disk! In addition to the
programs that appear in the magazine, you'll also
get outstanding bonus programs. These programs,
which are often too large to offer as type-ins, are
available only on disk—they appear nowhere else.
As another Gazette Disk extra, check out

fo oI
ALL ¥
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ADD $3.50 FOR S/H PER ORDER
IF ONLY ORDERING OVERLAYS THEN S/H 1S $2,00_ PER ORDER Jey

“Gazette Gallery,” where each month we present the
very best in original 64 and 128 artwork.

So don’t waste another moment. Subscribe to-
day to COMPUTE's Gazette Disk and get 12 issues
for only $49.95. You save almost 60% off the single-
issue price. Clip or photocopy and mail completed
coupon today.

Individual issues of the disk are available for
$9.95 (plus $2.00 shipping and handling) by writing
to COMPUTE, 324 West Wendover Avenue, Suite
200, Greensboro, North Carolina 27408.

i]
|
' YES! Start my one-year subscription
| to COMPUTE’s Gazette Disk right away
| for only $49.95.*
; Oo Payment enclosed (check or money order)
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* Residents of NC and NY, please add appropriate sales tax for your area. Canadian
orders, add 7% goods and services tax.

REVIEWS

SUPRA 2400
MODEM

Supra 2400 is an external
RS-232 modem that | can
recommend. It's been
around for several years,
long enough for individuals,
businesses, and BBSs to
shake out any hardware
bugs that it might have had.

It's smaller than a Beta vid-
eotape, is solidly built, and
has eight LEDs that indicate
the various modem opera-
tions. Supra 2400 is a Hay-
es-compatible smart mo-
dem that supports AT com-
mands, extended & com-
mands, and result codes. It
has several internal registers
for controlling modem func-
tions. The modem works
well with most popular share-
ware and commercial tele-
communications programs,
BellTerm, Bobs Term, No-
vaTerm, and Elite Term be-
ing some of the readily avail-
able ones.

Supra 2400 is cool run-
ning, which certainly adds
to its ability to transmit data
for long stretches of time
without errors, At 2400 bps,
transmission is obviously
more likely to be affected by
phone-line noise than it
would at lower baud rates.
Supra 2400 uses adaptive
equalization and impedance
matching like most other mo-
dems do and gives you
long sessions of error-free
transmissions.

Supra 2400 supports sev-
eral modem tests. A power-
on test automatically
checks out the modem eve-
ry time it's turned on. There
are also manual and self-run-
ning analog and digital
loopback tests in which the
modem generates and
sends signals to itself to
check that everything is func-
tioning. One interesting fea-
ture of the Supra 2400 is its

G-10

nonvolatile memory. Even af-
ter the power is turned off,
the modem will store one tele-
phone number. While this fea-
ture is welcome, it's over-
shadowed by the fact that
many other terminal pro-
grams support their own
phone directories and store
dozens of numbers.

used to be that whenever |
turned on my computer, my
old modem would scream
like a cat in heat; now
peace reigns with my Supra
2400. If | want to hear a call
in progress without insulting
my ears, | can control the vol-
ume of the modem's speak-
er via the software. Supra

Supra 2400 is a cool-running external modem that can give you
long sessions or error-free transmissions. :

There's an-error in the Su-
pra manual regarding the
store feature. The correct
command sequence for stor-
ing a telephone number is
AT&Z= followed by the dial
type (T for tone or P for
pulse) and the telephone
number, as in AT&Z =
75551234. The equal sign
character is missing from
the documentation in the
manual. This supposedly
has been corrected by an
addendum, but the adden-
dum wasn't included with
my modem. However, using
the AT&W command for stor-
ing any modem settings is a
more useful application of
the nonvolatile memory. The
settings with AT&W load au-
tomatically whenever the mo-
dem is turned on, which
saves you the trouble of hav-
ing to reach for the manual
or the supplied reference
card at each session.

| particularly like Supra
2400's power switch. It

COMPUTE SEPTEMBER 1992

2400 also has its own inde-
pendent power supply. Now
it takes me longer to warm
my coffee on my 64's power
supply, but | hardly call that
an inconvenience!

The Supra company sells
an RS-232 interface for the
64 called Peak Modem Inter-
face ($39.95); any similar in-
terface will work with any RS-
232 modem. The least expen-
sive commercial model is
the Com-Modem adapter
($19.95) from Aprotek. You
could even build an inter-
face with the help of the de-
signs and descriptions avail-
able on most online servic-
es. If you want to connect
your Supra through the Com-
Modem adapter, make sure
that you order an RS-232
straight-through DTE cable
with male DB25P (25 pins)
connectors at both ends.

The documentation for
the Supra modem is compre-
hensive, although somewhat
technical in places for some

users. However, a good tel-
ecommunications program
takes care of the technical
aspects of using a modem,
and you never need to both-
er with all those AT and &
commands and what regis-
ters do. Troubleshooting is
very well covered. And the
best news is that Supra
2400 has a street price of
less than $100 (cheaper by
mail order) and comes with
a five-year limited warranty.
RANJAN BOSE

Commodore 64 and 128—$119,95

SUPRA

7101 Supra Dr.
Albany, OR 97321
(503) 967-9075

Circle Reader Service Number 341

PANASONIC
KX-P2123

Despite the progress made
by 9-pin dot-matrix printers
in improving their NLQ (Near
Letter Quality) fonts, their out-
put just doesn't match the
quality of a 24-pin printer. A
24-pin printhead essentially
has three offset columns of
8 pins each. By printing
each line of characters in a
single pass, it not only prints
faster than its 9-pin ancestor,
it also achieves smoother
curves and diagonals on let-
ters such as O, C, Vand Y¥

The downside is that most
24-pin machines are noisy.
That's because they have
more pins and they print fast-
er. A typical 9-pin character
uses a matrix of 18 x 18
dots, whereas a 24-pin char-
acter uses a matrix of 30 x
24 dots and gets printed at
roughly twice the 9-pin
speed. Most 24-pin printers
sound like a dentist's drill
and preclude any conversa-
tion nearby. Anything that
could be done to make them
quieter would be appreciat-
ed. Enter the new line of

PUMP UP

YOUR PRODUCTIVITY!

Harness the potential of your, The Garena sorennics
64 and 128 with these nase

Do it all with Commodore

rf | graphics!
powe U pr ogr ams. Here's what's on it—
Starburst Graphics,

Get more work out of your 64 and 128 Screen Designer 128,
with these two new disk products from 128 Graphics Compactor,

COMPUTE's Gazette — the 1992
Best of Gazette Utilities, and

the Gazette Graphics Grab
Bag!

The 1992 Best of
Gazette Utilities

Seize control of your operating
system and your world!

Here's what's on it-MetaBASIC 64,
MetaBASIC 128, Quick, Sprint Il,
Ultrafont+, RAMDisk 64, RAMDisk 128,
BASSEM, SciCalc 64, List Formatter,
MegaSqueeze. ;

64 Animator, VDC Graphics,
Dissolve 128, Super Slideshow,
128 Animator, 1526 PrintScreen,
Supratechnic, Medium-Resolution
Graphics, Screen Maker, GAS!64—
Special Edition, GAS!128—Special

ORDER
THEM
TODAY!

Extend Your Computer Power With This Powerful Software!

ee ee ee eH EE EE ee OOO

aa ___ Check or Money Order _ MasterCard __ VISA |
| want to pump up my productivity! Please send me the |
@ disks checked below at $11.95 each. Credit CardNo,__ EX Dat |
ignat
| The 1992 Best of Gazette Utilities Stonature (Required)
| __ The Gazette Graphics Grab Bag Daytime Telephone No.
_— Subtotal Name
___ Sales Tax (Residents of NC and NY please add appropriate sales tax for your
area. Canadian orders, add 7% goods and services tax.) Address
__ Shipping and Handling ($2.00 U.S. and Canada, $3.00 surface mail, $5.00 City
airmail per disk.)
| __ Total Enclosed State/Province ZIP/Postal Code

Mail this coupon to COMPUTE's 1991 Utilities, 324 West Wendover Ave., Ste. 200,
MasterCard and VISA accepted on orders with subtotal over $20. Greensboro, NC 27408. ie

Gazette
Index

Everything’s included!
Features, games, reviews,
education/home applications,
programming, bugswatter,
feedback, and columns!

A superb interface includes pull-down
menus, help screens, and keyboard,

joystick, or mouse control. Features in-

clude super-fast searching and sorting
capabilities. An options screen allows
you to choose text colors, drive num-
ber, and input device. And there's full
documentation on disk.

Choose from three modes of opera-
tion—browse for quick scanning, view
for detailed information and descrip-
tions, and edit for adding items from
upcoming issues—and print to any
printer. There’s even a turbo-load op-
tion for maximum disk-access speed.

ORDER YOUR
1991 GAZETTE
INDEX TODAY!

(MasterCard and Visa accepted on
orders with subtotal over $20.)

To order, send $7.95 per disk, the
quantity of disks ordered, check or
money order,* your name and com-
plete street address:

1991 Gazette Index

324 West Wendover Avenue
Suite 200

Greensboro, NC 27408

“Please add $2 shipping & handling ($5 foreign) for
each disk (residents of NC, NJ, NY please add appli-
cable sales tax; Canadian orders, add 7% goods and
services tax).

All payments must be in U.S. funds. Please allow 4
weeks for delivery.

REVIEWS

Panasonic machines.

Panasonic printers have always
been known for their letter quality (LQ)
fonts, and now it's comforting to see
that their new product line has been
made quieter as well. The new line’s lat-
est offering includes the 9-pin KX-
P2180, the wide-carriage 24-pin KX-
P2624, and the 24-pin KX-P2123. The
KX-P2123 should be especially attrac-
tive to most Commodore owners.

Not only is the KX-P2123 quieter
than earlier models, it also has several
new features with hardly any increase
in price. The new model has a 14K buff-
er, compared to 10K on the KX-P1123.
The new buffer can hold approximately
seven double-spaced pages of text!
Adding a Xetec Super Graphics ur. in-
terface and a LQ speed of 40 charac-
ters per second means that your com-
puter will become available about six
minutes before the printer spills out the
last line.

The earlier Panasonic fonts (Pica,
Elite, and Micron in draft quality; Couri-
er, Boldface PS, Prestige, and Script in
letter quality) are all there, but some
new ones have been added. There are
lightweight Roman, medium-dark Sans
Serif, and a (slower but darker and sharp-
er) Super Letter Quality Roman font (not
available in IBM emulation). For 64 us-
ers, resident LQ fonts such as these are
vital. Although GEOS offers a variety of
fonts, they don't look professional. It's
nice to have a printer with a variety of
crisp internal LQ fonts.

The printing speed of the KX-P2123
is said to be as fast as that of the KX-
P1123, but the real improvement is in
the significantly lower noise level.
Sound is measured on a log scale and
each reduction by 3 dB (decibels) rep-
resents a 50-percent reduction in vol-
ume. At 8.5 dB quieter than its pred-
ecessor, the KX-P2123 is about one-
eighth as loud as the KX-P1123. This
noise reduction has been achieved by
adding thicker and bigger covers,
foam blocks, and technology that
Panasonic calls Quiet Touch. Panason-
ic has found that noise is reduced
when the pins are fired in a random man-
ner, rather than in the sequential man-
ner used by conventional printers.

The KX-P2123 can load fanfold pa-
per either from the rear (tractor push)
or the bottom (tractor pull). Single
sheets can be fed from the top, and an
optional sheet feeder is available. Sin-
gle sheets or envelopes can be used af-
ter first “parking” the fanfold paper. A
“zero-inch tear off” is a convenient pa-
per-saving feature that advances a re-
cently printed sheet of fanfold for tear-

ing and then retracts the blank sheet
back to printing position. The KX-P2123
becomes a seven-color printer by add-
ing a relatively inexpensive color car-
tridge and motor option.

On the negative side, the KX-P2123
retains its predecessor's somewhat
convoluted LED matrix front panel for set-
ting a multitude of printer options such
as the font, pitch, form length, quiet
mode, margins, and macros. It does
get easier once you work with it a
while, but, initially, keep a bottle of
aspirin and the manual handy.

The KX-P2123 emulates Epson
LQ860 and IBM Proprinter X24E.
GEOS users will be happy to note that
the drivers for KX-P1124 (and also for
the 24-pin Epson) work with this print-
er. Programs that allow you to define
printer configuration files, such as The
Write Stuff, also work with a minor effort.
If your program supports only older Com-
modore printers, however, then you're
limited to using the interface-based
Commodore fonts that generally don't
use the higher resolution of 24-pin print-
ers. The Xetec Super Graphics ur.
(ROM version 1.3 and 1.46) works well
in transparent mode as well as in Su-
pergraphix and 1525 emulation
modes. For 64 users, the primary advan-
tage of using a 24-pin printer would
have to be in text-based applications.
You can easily churn out a professional-
looking document with a KX-P2123.

Most 64 graphic programs don't ex-
ploit the highest density available on 9-
pin printers (216 dpi); therefore, they
can't use the higher (360 dpi) resolution
of 24-pin printers. The 24-pin's finer dot
size and arguably better linearity (align-
ment of dots), however, might improve
the appearance of the hardcopy.

Although the nylon ribbons that are
universally used by dot-matrix printers
are economical and satisfactory, it's a
pity that Panasonic and other manufac-
turers don't produce carbon film rib-
bons. These would offer a truly high-
quality output option for those who want
their documents to look their best. A con-
ventional nylon ribbon actually reduces
the apparent sharpness of a 24-pin print-
er. This can be quickly demonstrated if
you print a few lines (without the ribbon)
through a quality sheet of carbon paper
placed over the printer paper.

Never print without the ribbon for
more than a few lines, though. In addi-
tion to ink, ribbons carry lubricants that
help cool the printhead and protect it
from damage.

| found that, when using any of the
double-pass printing modes, the output
is better if the curved clear-plastic top
of the removable pull-roller on top of the
platen isn't clamped down. This is a
gear-driven assembly that normally

pulls the paper and keeps it taut. When
locked down, it tends to pull the paper
a touch too vigorously, resulting in
some characters having a dotted or bro-
en appearance. The pull is gentler, yet
adequate, when the curved top is rest-
ing on the paper, not down all the way.

Before using the tear-off feature or fan-
‘old parking or before loading for the
irst time, remember to set the top-of-
orm option. The manual neglects to
mention this.

One way to reduce noise even fur-
her with this printer is to adjust the print-
head gap with the supplied lever. The
chatter appreciably diminishes as you
move the printhead closer to the paper
(subject to paper thickness).

If your computer system is used for
any text-based application and you
need good quality professional print-
outs but cannot afford or justify the pur-
chase of a laser printer, then the color-
upgradable Panasonic KX-P2123 with
its two-year warranty is a reliable, effi-
cient, and economical alternative.
RANJAN BOSE

Commodore 64 and 128, printer interface re-
quired—$419.95

PANASONIC

2 Panasonic Way
Secaucus, NJ 07094
(201) 348-7000

Circle Reader Service Number 342

NOVATERM 9.3

NovaTerm is a powerful and well-de-
signed telecommunications program
that works well with Supra 2400 or any
other modem. In addition to the 64's
standard 40-column display, No-
vaTerm supports an 80-column ANSI
(or VT 52/102) graphics screen. Nitpick-
ers will always find fault with the clarity
of an 80-column display on a 64, but at
least that option exists. The program is
easy to use and provides several pro-
tocols, XMODEM (CRC and check-
sum), YMODEM, Punter, and others, to
ensure error-free transmission of data.

NovaTerm has a smallish buffer
(8K), but you can automatically direct
any buffer overflow to disk. Even if
your system is equipped with DOS
speed-up utilities, Commodore drives
can slow down the data stream if you
use large-block (1024 bytes) transfer
protocols such as XMODEM 1K or
YMODEM. NovaTerm supports RAM
expansion units (REU) and can con-
siderably enhance your system's effi-
ciency. If your system doesn’t have an
REU and the file to be uploaded or
downloaded is smaller than 8192
bytes, then the NovaTerm buffer (RAM
disk) can be used to achieve the
same end. The program works well

Calc Il makes your math work breeze | of data * Uppercase, lowercase

lowercase and

— whether i's a mortgage calculation, | Commodore graptics all available * Bar

budgeting, orkeeping sports statistics. | graphs on-screen with text * Over two

a Cc (Orusaiit for your non-math chores like | dozen functions, including LOOKUP,

phone numbers ormaking a nel IF, RND, SIN & FIX * 240 rows by
to

The Fastest sows and sped gets resus toe | wor ‘worksheet setup * Easy text entry.
Spreadsheet pe peers itr! Guide and disk with Calc Il, two utilty

column
Commodore 64 cxsaing gs aeperety egustable| andhencia rou
PANKHURST PROGRAMMING Dept.G « Box 49135 + Montreal * Quebec * Canada * H1N 376

Circle Reader Service Number 152

LOTSA DISKS! THE BEST in 64/128 PD.
GEOS, Graphics, Clipart, Demos, Games, Bible,
SID/MIDI, Educational, Basic 8
NEW! Graphics Scanning Service
Send stamp for FREE catalog or $2 for sample disk.

Diskoveries
PO Box 9153, Waukegan, IL 60079

in PD Software

Circle Reader Service Number 190

64/128 PUBLIC DOMAIN SOFTWARE ~ |,
REQUEST FREE CATALOG or send $2 for sample disk and catalog (RE-
FUNDABLE). Categories include education, utllities, games, business,
PRINT SHOP graphics, pre-tested programs and more. Rent for 75¢ or
buy as low as $1.00 per disk side or for 80¢ for 70 or more. $20 order
gets 4 free disks of your choice.

NEXT DAY SHIPPING! SINCE 1986

fn) CALOKE INDUSTRIES (Dept. GK) =EE
PO BOX 18477, RAYTOWN, MO 64133

Circle Reader Service Number 255

KeyDOS ROM Version 2 is here!

The KeyDOS ROM is a chip for the empty socket inside your C128 that adds more than 40
powerful features. KeyDOS is available instantly as soon as you switch on your 128!
KeyDOS i is loaded with useful tools to simplify file access on multiple drive systems without typ-
ing file names—all major DOS functions included. Select multiple files for copying, viewing,
printing, renaming or scratching. ASCIVCBM/Screen code converter. Full support for 1581
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Only $32.50. Satisfaction Guaranteed! Write for more information.
Enhance your system with the speed and convenience that KeyDOS provides!

Antigrav Toolkit, PO Box 1074, Cambridge, MA 02142
Shipping outside of US, Canada and Mexico add $3

Circle Reader Service Number 155

Commodore Accessories & Necessities

Ribbons! M3 Mouse
MPS 801 - 802 - 803 - 1525 - 1526 - 1000 - Modems Visa
1200 - 1230 - 1250 Joysticks * MC or
Commodore Printer (Comm. & PC Comp.) Icon Controller UPS
C 64 C Computer * 1541-II Disk Drive Cables cop

1802 Monitor Power Supply

SOFTWARE: Educational - Productive - Fun - Commodore-Amiga Authorized
Dealer & Service Center - 24-Hour Tumaround on Repairs - CALL for PRICING

ES ELECTRO-TECH ELECTRONICS 6
677 East Main Street + Ventura,CA 93001 + 805-648-5417

Circle Reader Service Number 148

SEPTEMBER 1992 COMPUTE

SOFTWARE

CLOSEOUTS

For Commodore 64 & 128

‘STRATEGIC SIMULATIONS INC. (SSI) ‘$S19.S0EACH
Typhoon of Steel, War of the Lance, Curse of
Azure Bonds, Pool of Radiance, Countdown to
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over Germany, Heroes of Lance, Pro-TourGolt,
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Dragonstrike.

MICROPROSE& MICROPLAY ..... oe SU4.SOEACH
Acrojet, Destroyer Escort, Netherworld, Rick
Dangerous, Top Gunner, Xenophobe, Crusadein
Europe, Decision in the Desert, Spitfire Ace,
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‘ACCOLADE BARGAINS
PSI5 Trading Co., Law
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with JiffyDOS. While a CPU
accelerator such as Schned-
ler System's 4-MHz Turbo
Master CPU cannot be ex-
pected to increase the actu-
al telecommunications
speed (after all, 2400 bps is
2400 bps!), it does reduce
the processing time re-
quired by the computer.
This becomes apparent
when you notice the faster
scrolling and display. Unfor-
tunately, Turbo Master isn’t
fully compatible with No-
vaTerm. YMODEM doesn't
work when you're saving a
file to the disk with the CPU
running at 4 MHz. Saving to
a buffer does work, howev-
er. XMODEM works well with-
out significant improvement
over native 1-MHz mode. Al-
so, during half-duplex trans-
mission, with the modem ech-
oing characters that you
type, the characters appear
as garbage on your screen,
but they're transmitted cor-
rectly. This can be confus-
ing, so I'd recommend disa-
bling the cartridge when us-
ing NovaTerm.

NovaTerm has the de-

sired complement of file edi-
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using the latter, your comput-
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time, collect messages,
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hang up without your having
to baby-sit the process!

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its modems. You can also
download the program from
Aprotek’s BBS at (503) 582-
1225. Callers can download
the documentation and the
related files on the first call.
NovatTerm is also available
on QuantumLink and GEnie.

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shareware, you're invited to
try it at no charge. If you de-
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least $20. Version 9.4
should be available by the
time this review appears.
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Circle Reader Service Number 343

BUG-SWATTER

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This is only a simple exam-
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the technique can be extend-

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els to reveal larger blocks of
text or user-defined charac-
ters. Sprites can be used in
Conjunction to reveal whole
sections of the screen dis-
play. More complex tech-
niques can be produced by
using sprites which aren't
completely solid but are pat-
terned or shaped. 0

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FEEDBACK

64 to IBM Format

| have two 64s and two 1541
drives. | have been using
them for about three years.
During that time, I’ve built up
a large collection of programs
and SpeedScript files, which
includes hundreds of recipes.
Now I've purchased an IBM
compatible. What do | need
to convert these files so | can
use them on my IBM?

CAMERON C. STEELE
SPENCER, IN

The first problem is the one of
transferring your 64 files to
the IBM. This transfer can be
accomplished by using termi-
nal software and modems to
upload and download the
files to a bulletin board or
even to move them directly be-
tween the two computers.

If you have access to a
1571 drive, there are several
utilities, such as SOGWAP's
Big Blue Reader, that will
copy a file from a Commo-
dore-type disk and write to an
IBM disk.

This process works quite
well when transferring text
files. Although the 64 uses its
own set of characters, PET-
SCIl, as opposed to IBM's AS-
Cll, converting between the
two is fairly easy to do. With
word processors such as
SpeedScript, you can save
files as ASCII or convert them
with utilities such as Sequen-
tial File Converter. Special
codes for centering and under-
lining may be a problem, but
these can be stripped out of
the text before the file is con-
verted to ASCIl.

There's a real problem, how-
ever, if you wani to convert
programs that will actually run
on the IBM. BASIC programs
are tokenized, which means
that keywords such as IF,
THEN, and GOTO are repre-
sented by a special token, or
single byte. When a program
is listed, however, the token is
converted to the appropriate

word on the screen, so that
people reading the listing
know what it is. The specific
bytes used for indicating key-
words are native to the 64, so
these tokens must be re-
placed with their equivalent
bytes or the actual set of char-
acters before any transfer
can take place.

Utilities that will take BASIC
programs and put them into a
text form do exist for the 64.
Most computers have soft-
ware available that will take a
program in text form and con-
vert it to a BASIC program, in-
cluding the IBM. Unfortunate-
ly, not all BASICs have the
same keywords, so there
might be a compatibility prob-
lem. Only very simple BASIC
programs can be converted.

If your 64 program con-
tains POKEs and PEEKs, the
addresses are going to mean
totally different things on an
IBM. Machine language code
is definitely nontransferable be-
cause the 64 and IBM use dif-
ferent microprocessors with dif-
ferent sets of instructions.

ML Pokes to Screen

How can you make a small
machine language program
on the 64 that pokes values
to the screen from a certain ad-
dress range?

ROCQUE BEAUPRE

HANMER, ON
CANADA

Let's say you have the values
you want to have transferred
residing in memory starting at
hex address $C123 and the
target region starting at some
other address. What's more,
let's say that we have 32
bytes to be moved, a hexadec-
imal value of #$20.

The high byte of the
source adaress is $C1, and
the low byte is $23. We'll sym-
bolize this with source high
byte (SHB) and source low
byte (SLB). Similarly, we'll sym-
bolize target high byte (THB)

and target low byte (TLB) .
The following assembler
code shows how the transfer
is done.

LDA #SHB_ ; source high byte,
in this case, $C1

STA $FC

LDA #SLB _ ; source low byte,
in this case, $23

STA $FB ; $FB,$FC serves
as a pointer

LDA #THB ; target high byte

STA $FE

LDA #TLB _ ; target low byte

STA $FD _ ; $FD,$FE serves
as a pointer

LDY #$00 — ; Y register will
serve as an offset

LOOP

LDA (S$FB),Y ; load accumulator
with the value at
the
; address whose
low byte is stored
in register
; SFB and whose
high byte is stored
in register
; SFC and offset by
the value in the Y
register.

STA ($FD),Y ; load the accumula-
tor with the value
at the
; address whose
low byte is stored
in register
; $FD and whose
high byte is stored
in register
; SFE and offset by
the value in the Y
register.

INY ; increment the Y

register

; have all 32 bytes

been passed?

; if not, loop

through the trans-

fer again

CPY #$20
BNE LOOP

Typing in Hex

Is there a trick or utility that
will allow me to use hex ad-
dresses instead of decimal
when typing POKEs and SYS
comamnds in BASIC? The BA-
SIC interpreter must convert

SEPTEMBER 1992 COMPUTE

Questions

and answers about

formats, poking ML

typing in hex,
and more

G-15

Suggestions about

and ways to show

Gazette Gallery art in

G-16

a slide show

FEEDBACK

en ee eee eee

the decimal address to hex or
binary, so it should be possi-
ble to intervene in this proc-
ess to handle hex addresses.

G. N. ADAMS
SACKVILLE, NB
CANADA

Your question obviously con-
cerns the 64, since the 128
has functions for converting
between decimal and hex.

Indeed, the BASIC interpret-
er does convert decimal ad-
dresses to the computer's
own numbering system for its
processing, but you can't sim-
ply feed it a hex value. Any
hexadecimal value you type
in must be processed just as
a decimal value. After all, it's
simply a string of characters
when typed, and any string
must be processed for mean-
ing. After processing, the final
form is in binary (base 2), not
hexadecimal (base 16).

We use base 16 when do-
ing assembler programming
because it's more convenient
for coding. Because 16 is the
fourth power of 2, any binary
number can be grouped in
fours, each four bits receiving
one hex digit.

If you want to use hex in
your BASIC program, you'll
need a subroutine for convert-
ing the hex to decimal.
Here's one that'll do it.

5 REM INITIALIZE
SUBROUTINE VARIABLES

10 L=LEN(H$): FAC=1:
MIN=ASC(‘‘A"):DV=0

20 FOR X=L TO 1 STEP -1:
CH=ASC(MID$(H$,X,1))

30 IF CH>=MIN THEN 38

35 V=VAL(MID$(HS,X,1)): GOTO
40

38 V=CH-MIN+10
40 DV=V*FAC+DV: FAC=FAC*16
50 NEXT: RETURN

The hexadecimal number is
sent to this subroutine as a
string of characters in H§$,
and the decimal equivalent is
returned as a value in DV.

COMPUTE SEPTEMBER 1992

The subroutine makes use of
the additional variables L,
FAC, MIN, X, CH, and V.

To use this routine to poke
the hex value #$20 into hex ad-
dress $04EA, for example,
you might set up a line of
code like the following.

5 H$="'20":GOSUB 10:
XX=DV:H$="4EA”: GOSUB 10:
POKE DV,XX

Which Language First?

| am interested in becoming a
computer programmer. | am
14 years old and in the 9th
grade. What languages
should | learn, and in what or-
der should | learn them?

JASON SPINETTI
BUTLER, PA

Personal computers all work
fundamentally the same way.
Information is processed one
step at a time. Processing
may require looping back
through a set of instructions
or branching to another part
of the program according to
some test done upon the da-
ta. In this sense, one comput-
er language is like another.
Since the first skill of a pro-
grammer is to think like a com-
puter—breaking a problem
down into terms the computer
can understand—the choice
of language isn't really impor-
tant. It's only later, when your
skills become more finely
honed and the problems you
present the computer with be-
come more elaborate or spe-
cialized, that you need to wor-
ry about the merits of one lan-
guage over another.
Probably the easiest lan-
guage to learn is BASIC. It
comes packaged with your
computer, and its commands
are easy-to-understand Eng-
lish words. People will argue
and say that C is best or that
they don't use anything but
Pascal. Others will claim that
to be really effective, machine
language is the only answer.

Hogwash. Any language will
do for starters, and no lan-
guage has a monopoly on use-
fulness. Our advice is to start
with BASIC.

Gallery Art

|_am a subscriber to the Ga-
zette Disk and really enjoy the
Gallery art included each
month. Keep it up!

I'd like to display all of the
art in a slide-show program,
and | noticed that there is a
program called Super Slide-
show in the May 1989 issue
of Gazette. Is it possible to
transfer Gallery art to another
disk and use Super Slide-
show to display it?. If so, how
do | go about transferring Gal-
lery art?

BOB LYONS
SIMI VALLEY, CA

All of the art that you see on
the Gazette Disk is in either
Doodle or Koala graphics for-
mat. Both of these formats
can be displayed by Super
Slideshow. (By the way, we
need more Gallery submis-
sions; we pay at least $50 for
each one we use.) The only
thing that would need to be
changed is the name of the
Koala-type files. Koala files
use a 15-character name (pad-
ded with spaces if the name
is less than 15 characters).
The name's first 7 characters
consist of CHR$(129) (a re-
versed spade), the letters
PIC, a space, another letter,
and then another space. The
filename itself comes after
these 7 characters.

The Gallery art viewer, in or-
der to let us use longer file-
names, looks only for that ini-
tial reversed space, and
that’s all Gallery art in Koala
format has. In order to use Su-
per Slideshow with Gallery
art, therefore, the additional
characters, PIC, a space, a let-
ter, and another space, are
needed. Any file copier will
copy the picture files. a]

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Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Program available only on 54-inch disks.

Add personalized
touches to

your computing by

G-18

programming
your computer's
function keys.

BEGINNER BASIC

Larry Cotton

WHAT DOES THIS
KEY DO?

Back in March 1991, | asked
you readers for some help in
writing this column. | got lots
of suggestions, for which |
thank you! This column is in re-
sponse to one reader who
asked that | explain the keys
unique to the 64 and 128.

The 64 and 128 are blessed
with special keys that other
computers don't have. (The
128 also has 26 extra keys,
which give it even more func-
tionality.) Some of the 66 keys
common to the 64 and 128
have dedicated functions,
some seem to work some of
the time, and others seem to
do absolutely nothing.

As a general statement, all
keys are internally hard-wired
to do particular things. By clev-
er BASIC programming, how-
ever, you can override most of
their normal functions until the
power is turned off. For in-
stance, in SpeedScript, which
I'm using right now, the left-
arrow key is programmed to
move the cursor to the left, de-
leting as it moves. Epyx's Fast
Load cartridge, however, pro-
grams that same key to save
a BASIC program.

Those two examples hap-
pen to be programmed in ma-
chine language, but we can
do the same things (albeit
more slowly) in BASIC. To do
this, we should know two
things about each key: its
CHR$ code and its keyboard
matrix value. The CHR$
codes are contained in the
computer's manual and other
reference guides. The other val-
ues can be determined by en-
tering this short program.

10 PRINTPEEK(197),PEEK(653)
20 GOTO10

When you run it, you'll see
two values that represent
what's in these memory regis-

COMPUTE SEPTEMBER 1992

ters, depending on which
keys are pressed. When no
key is pressed, 197 contains
64, and 653 contains 0.
Each key (except Shift,
Ctrl, Commodore, and Re-
store) Causes a unique value
to appear in 197, based on
the keyboard's wiring. If two
or more keys are pressed si-
multaneously, one of the keys
will dominate the others. Note
that even the Run/Stop key
has a value (63), which you
can see by holding Shift and
pressing the Run/Stop key.
The value in 653 depends
on the status of the Shift, Ctrl,
and Commodore (C=) keys;
the values are additive, as
shown below.
Key Pressed 653’s Value
Shift 1
C= 2
Shift/C= 3
Ctrl 4
Shift/Ctrl §
Ctri/C= 6
Shift/Ctrl/C= 7

Let's write another short BA-
SIC program that illustrates
how to put this knowledge to
work for us by programming
the function keys to change
background and text colors.

10 PRINTCHRS$(147)

20 K=PEEK(197): S=PEEK(653)

30 IFK<30RK>6THEN20

40 IFS=0 THEN ON K-2

GOTO100,110,120,130
50 IFS=1 THEN ON K-2
GOTO140,150,160,170

100 C=5: W=0: GOSUB500:
GoT020

110 C=6: W=1: GOSUB500:
GoT020

120 C=3: W=2: GOSUB500:
GOT020

130 C=4: W=3: GOSUB500:
GoT020

140 C=7: W=4: GOSUB5S00:
GoT020

150 C=10: W=6: GOSUB500:
GoT020

160 C=11:W=5: GOSUB500:
GoT020

170 C=12:W=7: GOSUB500:
GOT020

500 POKE53280,C: POKE53281,C:
POKE646,W

510 PRINT “LIKE THIS COMBI-
NATION?[UP]”: RETURN

Line 20 checks memory reg-
isters 197 and 653. Since
we're looking only for function
key activity, we weed out all
other keyboard matrix values
in line 30, Lines 40 and 50 de-
termine whether the Shift key
is pressed or not and then the
ON-GOTO statement is used.

10 PRINTCHR$(147):POKE646,1

20 BG=53281:B0=53280

30 GETA$:IFA$="*"THEN30

40 V=ASC(AS): IFV<133 ORV>140

THEN3O
50 ONV-132 GOTO100, 110, 120,
130, 140, 150, 160, 170

60 GOTO30

100 BG=5:B0=0: GOSUB500:
GOTO30

110 BG=6:B0=1: GOSUB500:
GOT030

120 BG=3:B0=2: GOSUB500:
GOT030

130 BG=4:B0=3: GOSUB500;
GOTO30

140 BG=4:B0=8: GOSUB500:
GOTO30

150 BG=10:B0=6: GOSUB500:
GOTO30

160 BG=11:B0=5: GOSUB500:
GOTO30

170 BG=12:B0=7: GOSUB500:
GOTO30

500 POKES3281,BG:
POKES53280,B0: PRINT
“LIKE THIS COMBINA-
TION?[UP]”:RETURN

Line 30 waits for a keypress.
Line 40 gets the ASCII value
of A$, subtracts 132, and
then uses ON-GOTO to
choose the appropriate line.
Of course, you'll probably
want to do more important
things than just change col-
ors with the function keys, but
this should give you enough
information to get started.
Next month we'll look at more
unique keys. oO

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G-20

Use a double
buffer to produce
extremely fine
scrolling on your
64’s screen.

MACHINE LANGUAGE

SSS Sa ES Ee ae

Jim Butterfield

SMOOTH
SCROLLING

Pixel scrolling seems simple.
Experimental POKEs on a 64
to address 53265 or 53270
(hexadecimal D011 or D016)
will show how the screen may
be shifted one pixel.

The tough part comes
when you reach the limit of a
pixel register, which goes
from 0 to 7. At that time, you
must move every one of the
characters onscreen to a new
location and then reset the pix-
el count.

So, can we move 1000
bytes in less than '/6eo second?
Practically speaking, it can't
be done, not even at the blind-
ing speed of machine lan-
guage. And if we are working
with a high-resolution screen,
we need to move 8000 bytes.
So many bytes, so little time.
It's out of the question.

There is a way around it,
though: double buffering.
Here's how it works. We have
two screen areas set up in
memory, One screen is being
displayed, and the other is be-
ing constructed. When the sec-
ond screen is complete, we
tell the video chip to switch its
attention to the new location.
It now becomes the “real”
screen, and we can start to
build a new display in the for-
mer screen-memory area.

It still takes time to do this,
but the switch won't take
place until the new screen is
completely built. Both pixel
scrolling and the screen
switch benefit from careful tim-
ing. We must pull the switch
during retrace to ensure that
there will be no flicker or
screen jump.

The following is a simple
smooth-scroll program for the
64 that demonstrates this tech-
nique. The code is stored in
the cassette buffer memory ar-
ea. Because of its size, we'll fo-
cus our attention on selected

COMPUTE SEPTEMBER 1992

parts of the program. You may
enter the BASIC program, run
it, and then disassemble the
machine language code if you
want to see details.

Our two screen buffers are
located at 32768 and 33792,
hexadecimal 8000 and 8400.
We build the new screen by
copying characters from the
other, active, screen. The direc-
tion of our scroll is up, so we
drop the first 40 characters
from the old screen, copy the
rest, and then fill the bottom
line of the new screen with
space characters.

The program uses two indi-
rect addresses to do this cop-
ying: $26/27 holds the “from”
pointer, and $28/29 the “to”
pointer. As we flip between
the two screens, the two point-
ers are set appropriately.

The first thing the program
must do is copy the screen.
That occupies code from
$033C to $037E. A short loop
follows to pad the bottom line
with space characters.

At $038A, we walk the old
screen through its pixel scroll.
Since we're scrolling in the up
direction, our objective is to
step the Y pointer from 7
down to 0. That pointer is
stored in the video register at
$D011, which also contains
the video-enable signal as bit
4. So the value that we stuff in-
to that register will step from
$17 down to $10; we hold this
value in the X register.

Before each pixel scroll, we
wait for a screen retrace. We
do this by watching that same
register, $D011. Its two high-
est bits tell us about the ras-
ter. When the value of those
two bits goes down, it’s re-
trace time.

In fact, we wait for six re-
trace events. We don’t want
our pixel scroll to be too fast,
or the user might miss it. Each
retrace happens in about '/eo
second, so a loop of six retrac-
es will slow our pixel move-
ment to 10 per second.

; scroll seven pixel positions

038A LDX #$17

; wait about 1/10 second

038C LDY #$05

; wait for screen retrace
038E LDA
$0011
0391 AND
#$CO
0393 CMP
$03D0
0396 STA
$03D0
0399 BCS
$038E
039B DEY
039C BPL
$038E

; do pixel scroll

; set up

next

039E STX $D011

03A1 DEX

03A2 CPX #$10

03A4 BCS $038C

Now the pixel scroll has
reached its limit. Our screen
characters are set; we simply
flip to the new screen. We
must also return the pixel
counter to its highest value.
Moving the characters is the
equivalent of eight bits of
scrolling, so we back off sev-
en bits to produce a net one-
bit scroll.

03A6 LDX #$17
O3A8 LDA $D018
O3AB EOR #$10
O3AD STA $D018
03BD STX $D011

The above coding puts the
two store instructions close to-
gether to minimize possible
screen jump. In fact, we're
quite safe, since all this is be-
ing done in retrace time.

A small amount of extra cod-
ing is added. Its purpose is to
reposition the cursor so that
the next time we print, the in-
formation will go to the new
screen and be printed at the
appropriate place. This in-
volves storing a new value in
address $0288. The Kernal

routines use this address to 13,141,208,3,176, EXAMPLE"; DS 466 FOR J=1 TO 1000:N
find the screen. 243 MQ 396 SYS 828 EXT J
EQ 15@ DATA 136,16,24G,1] FA 406 PRINT "OF PIXEL S|ER 800 POKE 648,4
The program code shows 42,17,208, 202,224 CROLLING"; GJ 810 PRINT "END!"

a character screen moving ,16,176,236,162,2| HQ 410 SYS 828 JM 820 POKE 53272,26

in one direction only. Once 3,173,24,268,73 AJ 420 PRINT "WITH DOUBL] FJ 830 POKE 56576,7

you understand the princi- | AB 160 DATA Mer TAT ee ae E BUFFERING"; DE a BORE. 03708127 one

i 2,17,208,17 XS 430 SYS 828
ples involved, you can take ’ GEAUGA gh elt
an 7 136,2,73,4,141,13| FF 44@ PRINT "I HOPE YOU IONAL

on more ambitious jobs. 6,2,169,145,32,21 LIKE IT"; KA 8606 POKE 55,@:POKE 56

BX 100 DATA 169,46,133,3 6,255 HX 450 SYS 828 7 160:CLR
8,169,0,133,40,16| XS 174 DATA 169,13,76,21
2,128,160,132,134 6,255
739,132,41,169,16| EB 200 FOR J=828 TO 964 TYPING AIDS

HP 116 Pe Ogee ae Boa bebe MLX, our machine language entry program for the 64 and 128, and
162 a 160.4 177 FQ 230 POKE J,X The Automatic Proofreader are utilities that help you type in Gazette
38 145,40, 200,192 OF 240 NEXT 3. Programs without making mistakes. To make room for more pro-
Sgie es MJ 250 IF T<>15776 THEN grams, we no longer include these labor-saving utilities in every is-

DC 126 DATA 144,247,24,1 {SPACE}STOP sue, but they can be found on each Gazette Disk and are printed
65,38,105,40,133,| BD 286 POKE 55,@:POKE 56 in all issues of Gazette through June 1990.
38,144,2,230,39,2 ,128:CLR lf you don't have access to a back issue or to one of our
4,165,48,105,40,1|DX 300 POKE 53265,23 disks, write to us, and we'll send you free printed copies of both of
a Ee a aS si4 po Besz ens these handy programs for you to type in. We'll also include instruc-

EM 138) page 324/24 aad 2| KH 330 oe 648 128 tions on how to type in Gazette programs. Please enclose a self-
18 169 32 166 g1 KD 340 PRINT CHRS (147) addressed, stamped envelope. Send a self-addressed disk mailer
45,40,206,192,46 |JE 356 FOR J=1 TO 22 with appropriate postage to receive these programs on disk.

SF 1406 DATA 144,249,162,|CS 366 PRINT Write to Typing Aids, COMPUTE's Gazette, 324 West Wen-
23,166,5,173,17,2| PS 370 NEXT J dover Avenue, Suite 200, Greensboro, North Carolina 27408.
68,41,192,205,268|HK 386 PRINT "THIS IS AN

|
SEPTEMBER 1992 COMPUTE G-21

For GEOS to interpret

the signals from
your input device,
you need to

provide it with a bit

G-22

GEOS

Ear Se a eS]

Steve Vander Ark

POINTERS AND
DRIVERS

A graphical user interface
(GUI) such as GEOS handles
routine commands with a point-
er on the screen, which
makes the computer a friend-
ly place to work and play. Just
point and click, and the com-
puter leaps into action.

There has to be a link, how-
ever, between your thinking
and the computer's high-pow-
ered magic. You need some
way to move the pointer on the
screen, some gadget that will
translate your actions into elec-
trical impulses the computer
can understand. GEOS refers
to these gadgets as input de-
vices; you most likely refer to
them as a mouse and joystick.

In order for GEOS to know
how to interpret the signals
from the device you're using,
you need to provide it with a
small bit of code called an in-
put driver. You probably know
that the input driver you install
on your boot disk will be the
one the system assumes
you're using when it boots.

You probably also know
that you can switch from one
input driver to another from
the deskTop with an option on
the GEOS menu. The joystick
and the mouse aren't the only
input devices around, howev-
er. GEOS 64 has drivers for
two other popular gadgets:
the light pen and the Koala-
Pad, For another thing, the driv-
ers you get with GEOS aren't
the only ones available—and
aren't necessarily the best
ones either.

As far as devices go, the
best known are the mouse,
the joystick, the Inkwell light
pen, and the KoalaPad graph-
ics tablet. Each device has its
strong points.

The joystick is particularly
well suited for games. Also,
the Suncom Icontroller, a
small joystick that attaches to

COMPUTE SEPTEMBER 1992

the side of your 128 or 64, lets
you keep your hands near the
keyboard while working; this is
handy while using geoWrite.

The mouse is perhaps the
most versatile of the bunch; its
proportional movement (in oth-
er words, the fact that it
speeds up as it moves)
makes it superior for maneuver-
ing around the GEOS screen.
Since the mouse is held rough-
ly the same way a pen or pen-
cil is held—in one hand and
moved about on a flat sur-
face—it's very easy to use for
graphics in geoPaint or for ob-
ject placement in geoPublish.

If a natural drawing posture
is what you're after, though,
the light pen is a logical
choice. You hold it like a pen,
obviously, and actually draw
on the screen with it. For
some drawing tasks, the light
pen is perfect. Freehand art-
work using the spline tool in
geoPublish is a good exam-
ple. On the downside, you
have to hold your hand up to
the screen all the while.

With the KoalaPad, you
hold the stylus exactly like a re-
al pen. Since you hold the writ-
ing surface with your other
hand, this device gives the
best combination of intuitive
use and comfortable posture.
Device drivers for both the
light pen and the KoalaPad
are included only with the 64
version of GEOS, however.

These official drivers for the
pen and pad are far from per-
fect. For one thing, the light
pen driver reads the button
click from the button on the
pen itself. This is fine for drop-
down menus, but if you're po-
sitioning graphics or trying to
hold the end of a spline in
place, you can't press the but-
ton without serious jiggling.
This makes using the pen for
graphics virtually impossible.

Q-Link has a solution in the
form of an alternate driver
called PenJoy (filename: PEN-
JOY, uploaded by Mystic

Jim). Instead of reading the but-
ton on the pen, PenJoy reads
the button of a joystick
plugged into port 2. Even with
the best of alternative drivers,
though, the response of the
pen to the screen in GEOS is
poor. The pen frequently mis-
reads the screen, which in ge-
oPaint results in stray and scrib-
bly lines.

The problem with the Koala-
Pad driver is that it translates
the position of your pen on the
pad literally to a position on
the screen. If you don't have
the pointer “attached” to your
pen position, such as when a
drop-down menu opens and
the pointer is arbitrarily
placed on the first choice, you
have to scratch around trying
to snag the arrow’s position
with your stylus. Chances are
you'll miss it or accidentally
move it away from where you
wanted it. The precision with
which you can move the point-
er is less than exact as well.

A new KoalaPad driver avail-
able on Q-Link addresses
these problems; it's filename
is KOALA PAD III, uploaded
by SYSOP Ph).

There are input drivers avail-
able on Q-Link for the mouse
and joystick as well. You can
get mouse drivers that use
port 2, that allow you to double-
click only with the right but-
ton—not the left—and that
switch your 128 into 2-MHz
mode. You can also find driv-
ers for Supersketch and the
Atari trackball on Q-Link.

Which device is best? I've
used them all with various driv-
ers and in most applications,
and I'll put my money on the
mouse. There's simply no in-
put device that works as
smoothly and precisely or
feels as natural as the mouse.
It works better for freehand
drawing than either the light
pen or the KoalaPad, and it
scoots you around the desk-
top more quickly and efficient-
ly than the joystick. ia]

The Gazette
Productivity
Manager

(Formerly PowerPak)

Harness the productivity
power of your 64 or 128!

Turn your Commodore into

a powerful workhorse, keep track
of finances, generate reports
in a snap, manage your
money in minutes—

all with the new 1991
Gazette Productivity
Manager! Look at all
your 64/128 Productivity
Manager disk contains.

ORDER YOUR
1991 GAZETTE
PRODUCTIVITY
MANAGER
TODAY!

GemCalc 64 & 128—

A complete, powerful, user-

friendly spreadsheet with all
the features you’d expect

in an expensive commercial package
(separate 64 and 128 versions are included).
Most commands can be performed with a single keypress!

Memo Card—Unleashes the power of a full-blown
database without the fuss! Nothing’s easier—it’s a
truly simple computerized address file. Just type in
your data on any one of the index cards. Need to edit?

Just use the standard Commodore editing keys. (MasterCard and Visa accepted on orders with subtotal over $20).
Finished? Just save the data to floppy. What couldbe =~...
easier? LIYES! Please send me —_ Productivity Manager disk(s)

($14.95 each).

—_—_— Subtotal

______ Sales Tax (Residents of NC and NY please add appro-
priate sales tax for your area. Canadian orders, add
7% goods and services tax.)

_____ Shipping and Handling ($2.00 U.S. and Canada, $3.00
surface mail, $5.00 airmail per disk.)

Financial Planner—Answers all of those questions
concerning interest, investments, and money manage-
ment that financial analysts charge big bucks for! You
can plan for your children’s education and know
exactly how much it will cost and how much you need
to save every month to reach your goal. Or, decide
whether to buy or lease a new car. Use the compound
interest and savings function to arrive at accurate
estimates of how your money will work for you.
Compute the answer at the click of a key!

DON’T MISS OUT ON THIS
POWERFUL WORKHORSE!

!

I

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| —Check or Money Order — MasterCard — VISA
1 Credit card No.
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(Required)
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Name

Address

City
State/ uP/
Province

Send your order to Gazette 1991 Productivity Manager,
324 W. Wendover Ave., Ste. 200, Greensboro, NC 27408.

Here are several
disk-related

G-24

come in handy.

PROGRAMMER’S PAGE

Randy Thompson

DISK TRICKS

Disk drives are such an inte-
gral part of any computer sys-
tem that it would be difficult to
imagine computing without
them. Here are some great
disk-related tips sent in by read-
ers. Keep those tips coming;
we pay $25-$50 for each one
we publish.

Quick and Easy Append
Follow these seven steps the
next time you need to add
one BASIC program onto the
end of another BASIC pro-
gram. Note that the last line
number of the first program
must be lower than the first
line number of the program be-
ing appended.

1. Load the program with the
lowest line numbers.

2. Enter the commands POKE
43,PEEK(45)-2: POKE 44,
PEEK(46)

3. Load the program with the
highest line numbers.

4. Enter the commands
POKE 43,1: POKE 44,8

5. Enter LIST to check your
new, larger program.

6. Ifyou get an OVERFLOW er-
ror message, enter a do-
nothing line, such as O
REM

7. Save your new program.

HELEN ROTH
LOS ANGELES, CA

What's Your Address?

The following program asks
for the filename of a machine
language program and then
tells you where that program
loads into memory. This is im-
portant information when you
forget a program's SYS ad-
dress because the address in
which a program loads is usu-
ally its SYS address, too.

RB 10 INPUT "PILENAME";FS

RA 20 OPEN 8,8,8,FS+",P,R”

SC 30 GET#8,LBS,HBS

QR 40 CLOSE 8

KH 5@ HB¥ASC (HBS+CHRS(@)) :LB=A
SC (LBS+CHRS$ (@)) :SA=HB*25
6+LB

COMPUTE SEPTEMBER 1992

JA 6@ PRINT "STARTING ADDRESS:
"FSA

PRINT "PROBABLE PROGRAM

{SPACE}TYPE: ";

IP SA=2049 THEN PRINT "B
ASIC":END

PRINT "MACHINE LANGUAGE"

QH 70
Ps 80
SM 98

JOHN L. BERGERSHIRE
MANSTOWN, PA

Scratch That Last Command

If you accidentally delete a
program from disk using
DOS's SCRATCH command,
you may be able to recover it
if you act quickly. Immediate-
ly after erroneously deleting a
file, enter LOAD “*",8. If the
scratched program was the
last one loaded or saved, the
computer will reload that pro-
gram into memory. Now, be
sure to save the program to
disk again before you do
anything else foolish.

ROB MAXWELL.
DELTA, B.C.
CANADA

Disk Manager

This simple program makes it
easier to format disks and re-
name and delete files.
Choose the desired menu op-
tion and answer the prompts.

KP 18 PRINT "{CLR}{RVS}

{6 SPACES}DISK MANAGER -
BRAD SCHULTZ{7 SPACES}"
: PRINT: PRINT
PRINT: PRINT

{RVS}1 {OFF}

PRINT: PRINT

(RVS}2{OFF)}

PRINT: PRINT

{RVS}3{OFF}

PRINT: PRINT

{RvS}4 {OFF}

KK 26 "{2 SPACES}
RENAME FILE"
"(2 SPACES)
DELETE FILE”
"{2 SPACES}
FORMAT DISK"
"{2 SPACES}
EXIT PROGRAM

GH 36
Gs 4¢

GI 56

KS 6@ PRINT:PRINT "ENTER YOUR
{SPACE}CHOICE: ";

GET K$:IF KS<"1" OR KS>"
4" THEN 70

PRINT K$: PRINT: PRINT:ON
{SPACE}VAL(KS) GOSUB 196
1208,300,406

AF 98 GOTO 16

PF 106 REM RENAME FILE

MJ 116 INPUT "OLD FILENAME" ;OF
$:IF OFS="" GOTO 166
INPUT "NEW FILENAME"; NE
$:IP NES="" GOTO 166
OPEN 15,8,15
PRINT#15,"RG:";NES;"=";
ors

CLOSE 15

RETURN

REM DELETE FILE

INPUT “DELETE WHICH FIL
E";DFS:IF DFS="" GOTO 2
58

OPEN 15,8,15
PRINT#15,"SG:";DES
CLOSE 15

ss 78

JJ 88

FG 126

MD 136
xe 14¢

FF 15¢
KA 160
FQ 200
MS 219

BK 226
DE 23¢
MP 24@

SG 250
GK 300
Pc 316

RETURN

REM FORMAT DISK

INPUT "DISK NAME"; DNS:1
F DNS="" GOTO 370

PRINT "PLACE DISK TO BE
FORMATTED INTO DRIVE 8
AND PRESS A KEY"

GET K$:IF KS="" GOTO 33
@

OPEN 15,8,15
PRINT#15,"NG:";DNS;",BS

CH 320

XA 338

PB 340
XM 350

CLOSE 15
RETURN

REM EXIT PROGRAM
PRINT "{CLR}":END

SD 360
DR 376
KS 496
DR 416

BRAD SCHULTZ
APPLETON, WI

Quick-Load Classic

Here's a classic load-and-run
tip that's been around the
disk block a few times, but it's
so useful it bears repeating. In-
stead of entering a LOAD com-
mand, waiting for the designat-
ed program to load, and then
typing RUN, try typing LOAD
“program 8: and then press-
ing Shift-Run/Stop. As soon
as you do, LOAD appears on
the screen, and your program
automatically loads and runs.
You don’t even have to press
the Return key.

KEVIN REEVES
GROTON, CT

Vital Statistics

The BASIC code listed below
allows you to determine a
disk’s vital statistics. You can
determine the disk's name,
ID, and number of free and
used disk blocks from within
a program without listing the
disk’s entire directory. The en-
tire process takes three sec-
onds or less.

FJ 18 SYS 57812"$0",8,0:POKE 7

8,G:POKE 781,:POKE 782

1207:SYS 65493

BF=PEEK (53625) *256+PEEK (

53024) :BU=664~BF

SS=52998:FSS$="":GOSUB 16

O:DNS=FSS

ID$=CHRS (PEEK (53016) ) +CH

RS (PEEK (53017) )

PRINT "DISK NAME: ";DNS$

PRINT "DISK ID: ";ID$

PRINT "BLOCKS USED:";BU

MD 8@ PRINT "BLOCKS FREE:";BF

ME 90 END

HF 100 SC=PEEK(SS):IF SC=160 0
R SC=34 THEN RETURN

RD 116 FS$=FSS$+CHRS (SC) :SS=SS+
1:GOTO 106

SM 20
EB 38
KX 48
DH 58

DE 60
xJ 78

CAMERON KAISER
LA MESA, CA a

PROGRAMS

DRIXELLA’S DILEMMA

By Arthur Moore

Drixella's Dilemma is a game with decep-
tively simple rules, but it's a game that re-
quires strategic planning. It’s played on
a 64 with one joystick.

The evil witch Drixella has taken you
hostage. All is not lost, however, she dan-
gles before you one chance for freedom.
“Here you will remain,” she shouts with a
booming voice, “until you solve the puz-
zle!" The door slams shut, and her chill-
ing laughter fades into silence.

You notice a clay board in a corner
that consists of 96 squares, 12 across
and 8 vertical. Nearby are a scroll and
small velvet pouch. Opening the scroll,
you see faint writing. You begin to read.

“Herein are 72 tiles that have been
painted six different colors. On them are
six different icons that represent the
realm of witchcraft: broom, cauldron, bee-
tle, black cat, crow, and Drixella's hat.

“Your goal is to place all 72 tiles on the
playing board. The first 6 have been
placed for you. To complete the task, you
must follow these five rules.

“4. Tiles are taken out one at a time.

"2. To play a tile, you must place it next
to an occupied square. Diagonals aren't
included.

"3, Surrounding tiles must match the
played tile in either color or icon.

"4. If a played tile touches more than one
other, the matches must balance. If two
tiles are adjacent, one must match by col-
or and the other by icon. If three should
border, two must have the same color or
icon, and the other must match in icon or
color. If four should border, then there
must be two color matches and two icon
matches.

“5. You must play a tile before the timer
runs out. After each play, the timer will be
reset and will run a bit faster.”

“Simple enough,” you say to yourself.
“I'll just play all the tiles, and I'll go free!”
Little do you realize that this is the first of
many days that you'll spend pondering
Drixella's Dilemma.

Entering the Program

Drixella's Dilemma is written entirely in
machine language. To enter it, use
MLX, our machine language entry pro-
gram; see “Typing Aids” elsewhere in
this section. When MLX prompis, re-

spond with the following values.

Starting address: 0801
Ending address: 1608

Be sure to save a copy of the program
before you exit MLX.

Taking Control

Use a joystick in port 2 to play. Move
the flashing cursor to the desired
square and press the button to put the
tile at the right on the playing board. A
buzz indicates an illegal move, and the
explanation will be highlighted below.
Your timer ticks down at the left of the
board. Scoring is based upon the num-
ber of adjacent tiles. One adjacent tile
earns 10 points, two tiles earn 30
points, three tiles earn 90 points, and
four tiles earn 200 points.

The plus sign (+) beneath your
score counts the number of four-way
combinations you have completed.
These are tiles with all four adjacent
squares occupied at the time of play-
ing. These mark the gauge of a true
champion.

Practice, Practice

At the title screen, you have the option
of playing either a scored game as de-
scribed above or a no-pressure prac-
tice game. In the latter mode, a timer
won't be used, allowing you time to con-
centrate on every move. Score isn't tal-
lied in practice.

You also have an undo key in prac-
tice mode. By pressing f1, you can
take back your previous move. All
moves are recorded, so you may undo
as many as you wish. Of course, this ac-
tion is frowned upon, and your comput-
er will taunt a bit. In a practice game,
you simply make as many moves as
you can.

During actual play, the game will
end should the timer run out before
you make a move. Pressing f7 while
playing either mode will return you to
the title screen.

Hints
Go for points early. Look for moves
that border more than one tile. This
will free up moves when the board fills
and moves become scarce.

Don't group too many of the same
color in one area. Likewise, don’t

'

group too many of the same icon in
one area. This will make it difficult to
make moves with multiple borders.

DRIXELLA’S DILEMMA

6801:0C G8 C8 B7 YE 26 32 30 AC
G809:36 33 66 GB GB GB 26 8D CE
@811:10 24 Fl G8 20 GB GA AY DA
9819:A4 85 FB 85 FD AQ 04 85 DB
@821:FC A9 D8 85 FE 26 C9 GA AZ
@829:A9 6E 8D 54 15 A9 6G 8D 7D
G831:8A 02 8D 59 15 8D 58 15 F2
@839:AD GE 16 C9 48 DG G3 4C DA
6841:10 10 20 14 @C AD 53 15 75
0849:F@ G6 20 37 GF CE 54 15 3C
@851:EE 27 D@ AD 53 15 FO OB 73
0859:20 4F OF AD 55 15 FG G3 ED
6861:4C F6 GF AE 54 15 AG FF SA
@869:88 D@ FD CA D@ FB AD BG 24
@871:DC 29 GF 49 OF D® 34 26 F4
@879:E4 FF C9 88 FO 98
@881:D@ 12 AD 53 15 D@ GD 4C BB
6889:11 GE A9 13 20 D2 FF AY G2
@891:00 85 C6 66 AD GG DC 29 32
9899:10 D@ BS 26 32 GC AD 16 D1
@8A1l1:16 38 AD FG 93 26 7B OF BO
@8A9:4C 51 08 C9 G1 FJ 19 C9 99
@8B1:02 FG 22 C9 G4 FG 2B C9 E3
@8B9:08 D@ 95 AD BA 16 C9 BC D7
@8Cl:F@ 8E 20 9C OB 4C 51 G8 EF
@8C9:AD GB 16 C9 G1 FG 81 26 Cl
@8D1:F5 OB 4C 51 @8 AD GB 16 61
G8D9:C9 G8 FG 16 26 D6 BB 4C AE
@8E1:51 68 AD GA 16 C9 G1 FO BD
G8E9:03 26 B7 OB 4C 51 G8 60 43
G@8F1:AD 11 D@ 29 EF 8D 1l DO 72
G8F9:A2 3F BD B4 13 9D C@ 37 FS
6961:A9 FF 9D 86 63 BD F3 13 AD
0969:9D 49 63 BD 33 14 9D CO 1C
G911:02 CA 10 E6 A2 87 BD 73 67
9919:14 9D F8 67 BD 7B 14 9D CD
6921:27 DG CA 10 Fl A2 OF BD 4B
6929:83 14 9D OG D@ CA 10 F7 7F
@931:A2 FF AD 53 15 DG G2 A2 12
G939:1F 8E 15 DG A2 G6 8E 17 8F
0941:D8 8E 1B DG 8E 10 DO AY CF
@949:7F 8D GD DC A5 Gl 29 FB 6D
G951:85 G1 AI GG 85 F9 85 FB B6
9959:85 FD A9 D@ 85 FA AY EG 3C
9961:85 FC A9 38 85 FE AS FB 9D
9969:38 E5 F9 A8 AS FC E5 FA C2
@971:AA A5 FA C5 FE 99 @8 D@ 19
6979:30 AS F9 C5 FD BO 2A 8A 3A
9981:18 65 FE 85 FE 98 38 ES El
0989:FB FO G9 98 G2 C6 FC 49 6E
G991:FF 18 69 61 85 FB E8 Bl 86
9999:FB 91 FD 88 C@ FF D@ F7 FS
99A1:C6 FC C6 FE CA DO FO FO 8B
G9A9:2A 98 18 65 F9 85 F9 BO DA
G9B1:02 C6 FA 98 18 65 FD 85 37
G9B9:FD BO G2 C6 FE E8 98 49 B9
G9C1:FF A8 C8 FG G7 Bl F9 91 AA
G9C9:FD C8 DG F9 E6 FE E6 FA C2

G9F1:FE A2 G7 9D 38 3F EG @7 6E
SEPTEMBER 1992 COMPUTE

PROGRAMS

DQ2oneansoao
9
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GA59:86 62 A2 BA 26 B7 GA
GA61:D0 FA A9 G4 8D 86 G2
GA69:B7 GA AO BD 26 D2 FF
GA71:D2 FF 88 D@ D5 26 AC
GA79:A9 G4 8D 86 62 A2 GC
GA81:B7 GA CA DO FA AD 11
GA89:89 16 8D 11 DG AD FC
GA91:12 20 1E AB AS BD AG
GA99:20 1E AB A2 15 AG G6
GAA1:20 FO FF AQ 6B AG 13
GAA9:1E AB 6G A2 B84 AD 20
QAB1:D2 FF CA DO FA 64 48
GAB9:48 98 48 AQ Fl AG 12
GAC1:1E AB 68 A8 68 AA 68
GAC9:A9 8G A2 8C CA 9D A7
GAD1:DG FA A2 47 AD G6 38
GAD9:01 AG BC 9D 17 16 CA
@AE1:65 88 DO F7 16 FG A2
GAE9:AG G5 98 BA BA BA BA
GOAF1:17 16 9D 17 16 CA 36
GAF9:88 10 EF 30 EB A2 @5
@BG1:0D BD 17 16 48 B9 17
GBG9:9D 17 16 68 99 17 16
0B11:18 69 6D A8 CA D@ EA
OB19:FF 86 62 26 El GC A2
@B21:20 9C 6B CA DO FA 26
GB29:8C A2 G7 20 D6 GB CA
@B31:FA 26 El @C A2 GB 20
9B39:0B CA D@ FA 28 El GC
9341:04 26 F5 GB CA D@ FA
9B49:05 26 9C GB CA DG FA
@B51:El GC 26 9C OB 206 D6
GB59:20 El OC 26 FS GB A2
OB61:AG0 1E 18 20 FO FF AG
@B69:A9 6B 28 1E AB E6 62
@B71:86 8D 18 D4 8D GE D4
OB79:GF D4 8D 12 D4 A2 41
0B81:1B D4 29 7F C9 41 BO
@B89:A8 BY 1D 16 48 BD 1D
@B91:99 1D 16 68 9D 1D 16
@B99:106 ES 69 EE BA 16 E6
@BA1:D@ G2 E6 FC E6 FB DG
@BA9:E6 FC E6 BS AD G6 DG
@BB1:69 186 8D 6G DG 6G CE
@BB9:16 A5 FB D@ G2 C6 FC
@BC1:FB A5 FB D@ G2 C6 FC
@BC9:FB C6 B5 AD 68 DG 38
@BD1:106 8D G8 D@ 60 EE OB
@BD9:A5 FB 18 69 50 85 FB
@BE1:62 E6 FC A5 B5 18 69
0BE9:85 B5 AD G1 DG 18 69
GBF1:8D G1 DG 66 CE OB 16
OBF9:FB 38 E9 56 85 FB BO
@CG1:C6 FC AS BS 38 EY GE
@CG9:B5 AD 61 DG 38 E9 16
GC1l1:01 D@ 60 AS FB 48 AS
@C19:48 A9 GG 85 FB AQ G6
@C21:FC AE GE 16 BD 17 16

G-26 COMPUTE SEPTEMBER 1992

9C29:96
6C31:66
0C39:B9
9C41:16
9C49:29
@C51:8D
@C59:A9
@C61:A4
6C69:B9
90C71:16
6C79:D1
GC81:81
@C89:CD
0C91:4F
@c99:11
@CA1:16
@CA9:C9
GCB1:14
@CB9:16
6CC1:AD
GCC9:38
@CD1:13
@CD9:FO

COUBANVOHOOCHAD

6D41:04
@D49:FD
@D51:D4
GD59:CA
6D61:D8
0D69:86
GD71:26
6D79:48
6D81:67
GDB9ZAA
@D91:86
@D99:91
ODA1:28
GDA9:91
@DB1:18
GDB9:4A
GODC1:AG
GDC9:C8B
ODD1:19
@DD9:8D
@DE1:8D
GDE9: 86
ODF1:15
GDF9:66
@EO1:AD
GEG9:A9
GE1L:AE
GE19:51
GE21:16
GE29:A2
GE31:15
GE39:5A
GE41:05
GE49:8E
GE51:48

68
FF
16
GE
8D
16
8D
BO
16
Dl
AD
16
16
G2
cg
63
DG
(of)
G1
16
13
38
Ag
15
66
96
G4
86
26
9D
A?
AS
D4
D4
8D
A2
Da
32
FA
26
Ag
12
ED
Ag
C1)
29
69
1F
AS
D4
4A
91
FD
CE
16
16
13
29
14
16
8D
16
CA
Ag
8E
6E
FO
16
G2
E8

FB
BS
16
48
FO
16
16
@D
BS
26
Ag
16
DG
AD
13
16
AD
13
gc
97
AD
G1
66
16
8D
AG
ag
AE
16
17
EE
OF
D4
D4
8D
DG
04
FD
04
8D
Ag
Ag
BO
68
AG
41
AG
c8
FC
FO
12
FD
66
GE
i)
DO
AD
DO
48
68
66
4c
SF
98
96
DD
FO
a4
99
4B

GE59:0E
GE61:FF
GE69:64
GE71:28
GE79:D4
GE81:AG
GE89:8E
GE91:20
GE99:1E
GEA1L:CE
GEA9:CE
GEB1:A2
GEB9:8D
GEC1:16
GEC9:DG
G@ED1:D0
GED9:0D
@EE1:61
GEE9: 89
GEFL:AG
GEF9:DO
GFO1:0D
GFO9:CA
GF11:15
GF19:D6
@F21:CA
GF29:04
GF31:69
GF39:A2
OF41:A9
GF49:56
GFS1:AE
GF59:00
GF61:56
@F69:15
GF71:05
GF79:15
GF81:2D
OF89:D4
GF91:8D
GF99:A2
GFA1L:D9
OFA9:64
OFB1:F8
GFB9:8D
@FC1:AE
GPC9: GF
GFD1:GF
G@FD9:9D
GFE1:8D
GFE9:DG
GFF1:DG
OFF9:16
1661:69
1609:12
1611:62
1619:84
i621:8D
10629:A9
1631:65
1639:21
1641:26

GA
20
8D
8D
AQ
ao
G4
FO
AB
Go
G1
93
gc
De
FG
4c
16
De
DB
GA
F8
16
De
FO
Ag
16
8D
G3
BF
15
15
56
37
15
8D
ag
66
8D
ag
@1
c8
F8
AG
Ag
DA
16
8D
CA
FF
15
FD
Fl
16
18
26
AG
AG
18
c3
D4
8D
8E

cs
OA
D4
D4
8D
DB
AG
ag
39
A2
CA
06
8D
AE
EE
GE
14
09
Fl
FE
6c
D3
88
EE
A2
AD
DG
ol
1s)
57
55
9D
9D
57
15
8D
OF
D4
8D
Ag
15
oS
88
8D
ag
18
OF
EF
CA
A2
Do
9c
7B
i)
AB
18
20
Ag
8O
24
D4
D4

1689:F9
1691:D90
1699217
16A1:72
16A9: 20
16B1:BD
16B9:FA
16C1:DE
1009: 48
16D1:C9
16D9:D8
1GE1:AB
1GE9:26
1GF1:58
16F9:A8
1101:6D
1169:15
1111:96
1119:6D
1121:D98
1129:16
1131:16
1139:38
1141:68
1149:cC
1151:D2
1159:68
1161:A2
1169:C9
1171:CA
1179:8D
1181:A9
1189:@1
1191:D2
1199:32
11A1:A2
11A9:1B
11B1:29
11B9:GE
11C1:38
11C9:1E
11D1:6D
11D9:AA
11E1:8E
11£9:16
11F1:D0
L1F9:ED
1261:8D
1269:B9
1211:48
1219:FF
1221:12
1229:8A
1231:A9
1239:8E
1241:16
1249:15
1251:D6
1259:0D
1261:E0
1269: GF
1271:16
1279:16
1281:41
1289:52
1291:2Aa
1299:56
12A1:1D
12A9:46
12B1:53

12B9:05
12C1:26
12€9:49
12D1:26
12D9:41
12£1:11
12E9:BB
12F1:12
12F9:91
1361:91
1369:91
1311:BE
1319:9D
1321:26
1329:9D
1331:92
1339:12
1341:9D
1349:65
1351:9D
1359:9D
1361:11
1369:BD
1371241
1379:26
1381:1D
1389:45
1391:54
1399:1D
13A1:4C
13A9:26
13B1:43
13B9:90
13C1:16
13C9:15
13D1:89
13D9:E6
13E1:86
13E9:08
13F1:06
13F9:08
1461:66
1469:38
1411:43
1419:68
1421:16
1429:86
1431:06
1439:08
1441:69
1449:44
1451:AC
1459:66
1461:28
1469:68
1471:68
1479:DD
1481:62
1489:68
1491:18
1499:E8
14A1:3E
14A9:FG

14C9:E8
14D1:2E
14D9:FE
14E1:7E

G6

E7
CE
FC
FE

14E9:FC F8 FC FE FE FE FE 7E CE
14F1:7E 3E FO F8 F8 F4 ED CO CE
14F9:7F G6 GE GE G6 12 8A CE EG
1501:FC 9G FG CO 98 CF E7 FF A7
1509:7F GG 1B 06 32 E6 CE FE EG
1511:FC 66 FO El E2 EG Fl F9 6E
1519:7F 0G 1E GE 8E 8E 1E 3E DO
1521:FC @@ EG EG FG EE FF FF 37
1529:7F @@ GE GE 1E EE FE FE 5F
1531:FC @@ El Dl AQ DS EB E7 A7
1539:7F @@ FE FE FE FE FE FE 53
1541:FC @@ FB FE F3 C® FF FF FB
1549:7F 66 BE FE 9E @6 FE FE 05
1551:FC GG GG 6E GG GG GG BB ED
1559:08 1D 2B 39 47 55 63 1A 34
1561:28 36 44 52 60 GG GA 1E 18
1569:5A FA 38 206 26 20 26 28 69
1571:08 93 G1 65 G7 BD GE D3 4D
1579:48 41 4C 4C 26 57 45 2E 7D
1581:2E 2E G3 GD G3 20 9E 46 9B
1589:31 26 2D 26 41 54 54 45 45
1591:4D 50 54 20 54 4F 20 53 76
1599:4F 4C 56 45 2G 54 48 45 C5
15A1:20 56 55 5A 5A 4C 45 3F GE
15A9:63 GD G8 26 97 20 G1 GS 5B
15B1:2D 26 4F 52 20 2D G3 GD 52
15B9:G3 26 9E 46 33 2G 2D 26 3A
15C1:5@ 4C 41 59 20 41 20 4E 79
2D 59 52 45 53 53 55 89
45 20 56 52 41 43 54 Fl
43 45 3F 13 @D 61 05 EY
26 C4 26 52 26 49 20 74
2G 45 26 4C 20 4C 20 8E
28 27 26 53 2G 20 26 27
2G 49 26 4C 26 45 20 47
26 4D 26 41 86 86 GG 91

ORrPaOAONN

1661:4

Arthur Moore is the author of Sammy
Seal (February/March 1992). He says
he still enjoys his 64 and 128 after
eight years of use. He lives in Orlando,
Florida.

CHARACTER DESIGNER

By Daniel Lightner

Character Designer is a utility program
that lets you create your own characters
and set up animation sequences. CD al-
so has an 80 x 64 pixel sketch pad that
lets you create designs, characters, or pic-
tures. You can then place these items in
a sequential file for use elsewhere. You
can also place character shapes on this
pad to help you set up programmed char-
acter displays.

Entering the Program

Character Designer is written entirely in
machine language. To enter the pro-
gram, use MLX, our machine language
entry program; see “Typing Aids” else-
where in this section. When MLX
prompts, respond with the following.

SEPTEMBER 1992 COMPUTE G-27

PROGRAMS

ES SEE ERE PS POT RTE EIST TEN I I PS

Starting address: 0801
Ending address: 1B68

Be sure to save a copy of the program
before you exit MLX.

Running the Program

Character Designer loads and runs
like a BASIC program. To move the
pointer, use a joystick in port 2 or use
the keyboard cursor keys.

Workscreen

You'll notice that CD's screen is divid-
ed into various sections, with copyright
information in the upper right-hand cor-
ner. Clear this window and start the pro-
gram by pressing the space bar.

At the top left side of the screen
there's a small square sprite; this is the
program's pointer. First, let's move it
down the screen to near the bottom
where you can see Commodore's stan-
dard uppercase graphic character set.
Press the fire button if you're using a
joystick; otherwise, press f7 as you cur-
sor along the alphabet. Watch the ed-
iting window in the upper left corner of
the screen. These rows of characters
are where you pick up characters for ed-
iting simply by pressing the fire button
or f7, Notice that this window extends
upward at a point near the center.

Edit a Character

Use the above steps to find the up-
arrow A character and place it in the ed-
iting window. Be sure to release the
fire button when you see the character
in the window.

Move the pointer back to the area la-
beled as the editing window. This area
is divided into three parts. On the left
is the window that contains the pixel pat-
terns for the character being edited.

The center window contains an op-
tions menu. Notice that each item in
this menu is preceded by a round dot.
Place the pointer on a dot when you
wish to choose one of these options.
Move to one of the items on the menu
and press the fire button or f7. Experi-
ment with all of the options.

Notice the window to the right as
you enter the different options. This win-
dow contains six rows of the selected
character and displays four more char-
acters below separated by spaces.
This display lets you see exactly what

G-28 COMPUTE SEPTEMBER 1992

the edited character looks like as
soon as you make any changes.

Now press the D key and look at the
Edit window. This is the character's da-
ta. Now press the space bar.

Next move the pointer back into the
window that contains the pixel patterns
and press the Clr/Home key. The win-
dow should clear. Press the fire button
and watch what happens to the pixel
under the pointer. If you continue to
hold the fire button, the pixel will tog-
gle back off again. Remember, if
you're using the keyboard, function key
{7 is the same as the fire button.

Using the Buffer

Now edit a character or create one of
your own. When you have finished,
move over to the window that contains
the six rows of characters and press
the fire button. Look in the Buffer win-
dow. It should now contain the same im-
age as the Edit window.

If you create another character or
pick one up out of the character set,
you'll notice that the buffer still holds
the original character. Next to the buff-
er is another window that contains
three rows of the characters that are in
the buffer. Move to this window and
press the fire button. The buffer char-
acter reappears in the’ Edit window.
Whenever you place a new character
in the buffer, the previous character is
overwritten. The same applies when
you place a character in the Edit win-
dow. There are several places,
though, where you can store charac-
ters and keep them safe.

Moving Characters

CD has two function keys that are pro-
grammed to pick up and place charac-
ters. These keys are f1 and f8. The first
One picks up a character, and the sec-
ond one places it elsewhere on the
screen.

You can use these two keys almost
anywhere on the screen. These func-
tions are useful when designing text
characters. You can, for example, de-
sign the letter A and place it anywhere
you see the letter A on the screen (oth-
er than in the Sketch window and on
the Enter line), and it will change all the
A’s in the text.

You can edit or create 95 different
characters and place them almost any-

where on the screen until you're ready
to save them. To save your edited char-
acters, you must place them on the
Enter line. Move the pointer in front of
the word ENTER to the < character
and press the fire button. Find the sev-
en characters that make up the word
COMPUTE. Now move over to the >
character and press the fire button
again. The letters scroll left and right
through the frames. You can enter char-
acters here simply by moving to one of
the enclosed characters and pressing
the fire button.

After you have filled the first seven
spaces, scroll seven more onto the
screen. When you save characters, CD
will always save the first seven charac-
ter spaces even if you haven't entered
that many. Before saving, scroll the En-
ter line so that the last character that
you wish to save is the last (far right)
character in the line.

Enter some characters. If you wish
to clear the Enter line, move to one of
the seven spaces and press the Clr/
Home key. We'll discuss more about
loading and saving later.

Sketch Window

CD has a 10 x 8 character Sketch
window. Here characters can be ar-
rayed to form larger pictures, or you
can use the pad as a temporary stor-
age area. Edited characters can be
placed in this window with the press of
the fire button. The Clr/Home key will
clear this entire window as well.

The window can be used to make
sketches also. Move the pointer to the
round ball in front of the word
SKETCH and press the fire button. Did
you notice that the Command line fi-
nally did something? It now indicates
that you are in Sketch mode. Look in
the upper left corner of the Sketch win-
dow. You can see a single pixel blink-
ing rapidly. With the cursor keys or joys-
tick, move the pixel around the win-
dow. Pressing the fire button will lock
the pixel on, allowing you to draw with
it. If you wish to erase with it, press f5
and continue. Function key f5 will tog-
gle the On and Off settings while in
Sketch mode.

When you enter the Sketch window,
the setting is always toggled to On.
With this feature, you can actually use
characters to draw a picture. The Crl/

Home key will still function in this
mode. To exit Sketch mode, press the
Back Arrow key.

Animation

On the lower left side of the screen is
an Animation window. This is the Ani-
mation Sequence and Speed Control
window. The Animation window is a ten-
page tablet with a built-
in page flipper.

Previously, when you picked up char-
acters, you were actually picking up
the character data only and placing it
in another area, overwriting the original
character's data. When you place a
character in the Animation window, it is
the actual character. Place the pointer
on the indicator in front of the words
PAGE AHEAD and press the fire but-
ton. This is a useful feature for design-
ing characters for a game or fancy ti-
tle screen.

Move to any character you wish to
place on the Animation window and
pick it up. Move back to the place
where you wish to place the character
and press the fire button. It's as easy
as that. Clr/Home will clear the Anima-
tion window if your pointer is within its
frame.

If you continue to press the fire but-
ton, the setting will toggle to Off again.
When you have finished, be sure to
page ahead to be sure that your page
is entered correctly. The Slower and
Faster features will allow you to adjust
the speed of CD's pointer as well as
the Animation window.

Command Mode

Move to the Command indicator and
press the fire button. You have entered
the Command mode, Here, as you can
see, there are four options. To enter a
command, press the key that corre-
sponds to that command. The space
bar will abort Command mode. The Q
key will return you to BASIC, the S key
will save a sequential file, and the L
key will load one. The R for reset will
put CD back into its starting condition.
This command will clear all the charac-
ters that you may have designed. So
be careful with it.

To save or load a file, use the prop-
er key. CD will ask for a filename. En-
ter the filename and press Return. CD
works only on disk in drive number 8.

If you need to see the disk directory
after you have exited Command
mode, just press the shift key and the
$ key. The directory listing can be halt-
ed and restarted by pressing any key.

Preferences

CD offers you the ability to change the
colors of the screen, border, pointer,
frames, text, editing character, and pix-
el on and pixel off characters. This can
be accomplished by placing the point-
er over the type of character that you
wish to alter and pressing the C key.
CD scrolls through all 16 colors, start-
ing from the color that is presently on-
screen. Pressing P will color the point-
er, B will color the border, S will
change the screen color, and so on.

Multi-Color
CD also supports Multi-Color. To enter
Multi-Color mode, press the M key. To
exit, press it again. You'll notice that Mul-
ti-Color can mess up some of the items
on the screen. To make them more
readable, change their color to a color
value less than 8. The character being
edited won't show in Multi-Color unless
it has a color value greater than 7.
While in Multi-Color, the editing win-
dow responds differently as well. This
is because color is represented in
pairs of bits instead of by each individ-
ual bit. To choose the bit pattern that
you wish to use, press f5. The bit pat-
tern is displayed on the Command
line. Multi-Color characters are dis-
played according to the screen color,
Multi-Color, Multi-Color2, and the char-
acter color. Multi-Color1 and Multi-Col-
or2 are adjusted by typing the 1 key or
the 2 key. When this is done, the col-
ors are displayed on the Command
line as well.

Key Action

fi Picks up a character
{3 Puts down a character
f5 Adjusts pixel pattern
{7 Fire button alternative
Cc Character color

iP Pointer color

S Screen color

B Border color

M Multi-Color mode

1 Multi-Color4

2 Multi-Color2

D Character data

Shift-$
Clr/Home
Cursor

Directory

Clears area
Moves pointer

Command Mode
iS) Save sequential file
iL. Load sequential file
R Reset CD

Q

Quit to BASIC

Character Designer

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FO
20
E9
El
cD
CA
6A
23
38
4c
c2
75
07
6B
03
6B
91
32
EG
86
AA
80
AC
18
ri)
OF
BO
20
84
91
cg
96
51
05
21
1A
31
16
1A
28
39
E8
17
D7
EG
4B
26
B9
8D
Ag
CA
co
57

SEPTEMBER 1992 COMPUTE

B4
96
A5
FF
62
60
E4
38
49
86
23
18
96
83
17
AE
64
38
ED
E5
14
28
8B
ce
1F
ol
10
A2
11
AC
63
De
37
26
43
Ag
26
30
1D
co
FA
a4
54
AD
20
cg
BO
BO
4c
3B
3c
9E
43
66
07
34
47
74
6D
43
AS
06
5c
24
29
Uy)
AG
2A
18
86

PROGRAMS
EET EEE PO SS

16E1:55 9A D3 AG D2 3G 81 46 7E| 1911:4A 6B 26 43 3B E3 GC 86 7D | 1B41:09 GE 14 7B 11 GC 14 G4 9E
16E9:D1 51 CO 6G DA 28 4E 41 CO | 1919:06 G1 ES GF 27 1D 3A 3E 9C | 1R49:46 BG 21 20 20 26 G1 GC B84
16F1:8D 53 06 87 GD BG G2 F@ 4A | 1921:27 2B 13 OC GF 17 9E SC 43 | 1—51:9c 5a 1B 09 G7 G8 14 13 29
16F9:2B ED 49 AA A3 26 CD BD EG | 1929:90 E2 G9 GG 87 C4 3B CE C9 | 1n59:26 12 G5 13 85 12 16 @5 97
17G1:A9 26 DG BE 64 F4 FG GF 79 | 1931:49 89 C7 G5 8G 18 G1 G7 G1 | 1n61:04 26 40 G0 GO GG GO GG AD
1769:16 44 38 8E 7E 8G 34 4C EA | 1939:5 4c G8 G5 Gl G4 C2 A7 97
1711:1B 64 29 OD @8 45 4C 15 DE | 1941:3C 7A 9E 49 AG 4F 4F 7A 63 jal Li ; i
1719:1B 26 6F 1B A9 GG C3 85 D6 | 1949:9A Fl 78 88 41 3D 2B a7 D9 ar ek Nat ts Caer ail dani
1721:86 02 20 C3 FF G0 47 26 FE | 1951:8E A7 GB 26 Gl GE G9 4F B9 Y :
1729:BA 1A 26 85 1B 4C DB @8 61 | 1959:64 14 G9 OF 63 GB 10 D7 14
1731:B6 B8 43 FG 8B 26 E4 FF 1F | 1961:85 C4 3E 41 D6 40 11 20 5D
1739:C9 98 DB F9 6G AS CB C9 G1 | 1969:4F 44 77 31 1E D7 46 3F 71 SMART FORMAT

1741:49 D@ FA 60 AQ 93 26 D2 D7 | 1971:71 C5 D6 49 73 52 El 61 47

1749:FF AD CD 83 77 62 FD AD 42 | 1979:07 G3 64 65 G6 G7 G8 G9 26 | By Rustin Ambrose

1751:CE 62 85 FE A9 3F 85 FB 59 | 1981:0A @B GC GD GE GF 14 11 AB i ili
1759:A9 86 85 FC 26 C6 12 66 FE | 1989:12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 B3 Sr ere avelsauily
1761:8E EC 28 AE 72 EG 06 FG 16 | 1991:1A 1B 1C AG 06 7F 52 £1 D9 | 'Y Program the l hus]
1769:25 80 86 50 AE 22 G3 E8 FC | 1999:41 1D 65 26 21 22 23 24 5g | Matofa disk in one-third the usual time.
1771:62 EC C9 62 BG 67 EG 51 E9 | 19A1:25 26 27 28 29 2A 2B 2c cB | Anyone who must format a number of
1779:B7 @3 4C C9 1B 66 43 C8 14 | 19A9:2D 2E 2F 36 31 32 33 34 D3 disks at one session will appreciate this
1781:D3 CA 62 AE CB 62 6C 11 C7 | 19B1:35 36 37 38 39 4E 83 27 A7 timesaving feature.

POSS OSGR2 pO Og BRD SEO ASE RDA ROS || 1989701 NG8ie18 <A89ED.3CcRD- 4791 With another welcome feature, Smart
1791:62 4C AE 1B 80 7D ES C3 E4 | 19Ccl1:F8 C4 D4 49 41 35 GA 4D ll a ae
1799:43 A3 58 C8 FG 28 88 43 66 | 19Cc9:01 GD G1 GE CE 22 EG E1 63 | Format eliminates head bumping—that
17A1:A8 CO 36 42 F@ 11 85 BB SC 19p1:E1 15 67 G2 15 G6 G6 G5 BD | banging noise in your drive that normal-
17A9:8F 8E 38 2E 3C 76 BA 3C 9A | 19p9:12 26 41 45 35 F1 86 GE 26 | lyoccursatthe start of aconventional for-
17B1:E4 64 23 63 E3 67 E3 28 B2 | 1951:8F 87 3A GE £6 4B 19 C8 45 | mat. Smart Format was designed to
17B92C3 BG) ae 36 18 GA 93 BD 96 | 1969708 42 42 46 4D 55 4c 54 BA | Work only with the 1541 drive.

17C1:8B 8D 83 38 2E 46 66 E3 30] 19F1:49 2D @5 39 7E BG 31 1C EC ‘
17C9:A3 38 88 1F 1F EB 21 F8 BE | 19F9:3A 87 60 7A 52 32 FF 60 8E n
17D1:F8 AE 83 82 63 43 AG 90 BA| 1ag1:26 43 4F 4D 4D 41 4E 44 25 | Entering the Program

17D9:18 1@ GA 48 C8 10 7E 7E DF | 1Ag9:CA 87 54 45 89 16 38 48 38 | Smart Format is written entirely in BA-
17E1:7E E8 GA 6G 18 18 eB 96 ze 1A11:GF 86 E2 61 65 AG FF 96 9A | SIC. To help avoid typing errors, use
17E9:GG EA 83 3A 96 32 FF £3 1a19:@5 1c 9F $C 1B 1F 9E 81 C@ ‘ ; ii
17E1:E4 65 AG E3 Dl B2 43 93 B1| 1A21:95 96 97 98 99 9A 9B 8g 31 | [he Automatic Proofreader; see “Typ
17F9:6B CO FG 76 G5 58 78 98 16 | 1A29:AF E7 10 @8 92 G1 7F BF @9 | ing Aids” elsewhere in this section. Be
1801:02 E8 60 G@ C8 44 73 B2 69 | 1A31:DF EF F7 FB FD FE 14 Fl 16 | Sure to save a copy of the program be-
1869:E1 69 GC 75 1F 22 27 17 2C | 1A39:81 57 2C 53 2C 52 46 49 3F | fore exiting Proofreader.

1811258 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 39 | 1a41:4C 86 13 4B 41 4D D8 3F B4 To use Smart Format, simply load
FELD 2p Bao Se TER ECRCAACSRGGR CABO) || 1A492PE N20 5840 71DNG1=20N9AR145BE I ar aiin it as you would any BASIC pro-
1821:09 AF 1£ 44 4E 2E 5A 5B @5 | 1a51:52 89 53 2D 53 41 56 45 DF Th DATA
1829:5C 5D 5E 5F 68 61 62 63 51 | 1A59:26 4c 2D 4c 4F 41 44 26 43 | Oram. Ihe program uses A state-
1831:FC F8 C9 86 15 186 17 C7 9E |} 1A61:52 2D 52 45 53 16 F6 27 Bg | Ments to send custom machine lan-
27 64 65 66 67 68 69 2F | 1A69:26 51 2D 51 55 FD FF 44 A3 | guage routines to the drive.

6B 6C 6D F5 Fl 93 @D 91 1A71:A@ GF 41 79 DA GG GO O6 56

ED 42 25 86 71 52 El 6B | 1A79:04 G2 GE 27 GB G1 G2 G2 6C Why It’s Faster

6F 74 71 72 73 74 75 79 | 1A81:6D 6D E6 82 6D 6C 6C 42 FC : an F
77 C7 4F 36 GC G5 66 82 | 1A89:25 20 56 41 54 54 45 52 47 | Formatting a disk is usually done with
1861:FC FE 96 1A 27 78 79 7A BA | 1A91:46 26 FF FF C3 99 9F 9F 58 | the NEW command, which is written
1869:7B 7C 7D 7E 7F 86 81 F7 G7 | 1A99:99 C3 FF 18 78 68 8@ a8 1c |} OPEN1S, 8, 15,"NO: DISK NAME,/D":
1871:F1 93 GE 8F ED 81 1c 4F 37 | 1AA1:AG 2 & Mi 2 os - 2 z CLOSE15. This type of formatting usu-
1879:20 4E 4E 50 3D 82 83 84 9B | 1AA9:87 GF 7E

1881:85 86 87 88 89 8A 8B 19 36 | 1AB1:43 48 20 4D 4F 44 45 FF 88 URE eee A
1889:3F E9 FG GF 14 61 2B 1B FB | 1AB9:24 46 7E 4E 1D 87 44 41 95 | ! r d pent calc
1891:66 44 G2 EC 8C 8D 8E 8F 59 | 1AC1:5D 48 64 78 64 67 D8 15 52 | ing the optimal size of the disk’s inter-
1899:96 91 92 93 94 95 E3 8F 54 | 1AC9:GB C5 54 13 3C G6 1B 12 F2 | sector gaps.

18A1:68 A2 G1 48 C7 12 @5 16 45 1¢ 12 13 8D ae a Be The inter-sector gaps are strings of
18A9:98 25 13 65 D1 15 @C 14 31] 1aD9:49 B OC Dg ic Ae

18B1:01 DB 1F 26 BG G3 9C 9D E4| 1AE1:12 07 8D 44 1C 38 20 Bl 8A oor pe peceye eae aaced to the
18B9:9E 9F 70 3E 55 78 BG G5 G6 | 1AE9:11 SD A8 D5 GE C3 BG 21 72 9g ig.
18C1:EC G8 GB 5@ 78 24 G4 EC 1A | 1AF1:40 The gap areas are never used by the
18C9:78 CA 26 G9 G1 12 G1 G3 D2 drive but rather act as padding be-
18D1:41 A7 G5 G4 G9 14 4c G2 AG tween sectors of a track. The optimal
18D9:67 26 17 G9 BE B4 AG GS DB gap size depends partly on the rotation-
18E1:Al @C D5 6B G5 14 G3 G8 D7 al speed of the drive

18E9:F6 69 C3 E3 AG 8E 85 3A 2B | 1B19:65 78 84 26 40 64 ES G8 1A , arive. F
18F1:84 32 G6 32 86 EG 29 3C EA | 1B21:34 62 EG GB D1 5G 16 19 17 Commodore's Disk Operating Sys-
18F9:26 3E 26 G5 GE DB 29 E3 34 | 1B29:D0 CE 86 41 31 39 39 32 73 | tem (DOS) repeats a complex algo-
1961:61 C3 £3 AG GE 9D 39 3E F2| 1B31:39 Bl G3 GF BD 77 14 G5 35 | rithm on each track to calculate the
1969:33 3C 1B BE 4A 39 a8 42 61 | 1B39:40 97 16 15 G2 2B 99 GC AC | best gap size. The time-consuming

G-32 COMPUTE SEPTEMBER 1992

part of the algorithm compensates for
small changes in drive speed that can
occur from track to track. Testing
shows, however, that drive speeds
don't vary enough during the short
time of the NEW command to make a
significant difference in the gap calcu-
lations. As a result, there's no good rea-
son to repeat the algorithm on every
track on a disk.

Smart Format uses the DOS algo-
rithm only on track 1. The gap length
for track 1 is then used to calculate the
gaps for all other tracks.

Smart Format also improves the effi-
ciency of the routine that clears a
track prior to formatting. The combined
effect of these changes reduces exe-
cution time to about 28 seconds. User
group librarians or anyone else who
must format a number of disks during
one computing session will appreciate
this faster procedure.

Eliminating the Bump
When you format a disk using the con-
ventional command, you probably
hear a banging noise coming from the
drive. This banging sound at the start
of formatting is caused by the drive
read/write head stepping outward an
excessive number of times. The regu-
lar format routines do this to guarantee
that formatting begins on track 1, the
outermost track. The bump can contrib-
ute to alignment problems and should
be avoided whenever possible. Smart
Format uses the drive's internal track
counter to move the read/write head
precisely to track 1 without the bump.
If the drive hasn’t been used since
power-up, the internal track counter
will need to be initialized. Should
Smart Format detect this situation, it
will ask the user to insert any formatted
disk. The track counter is then updated
by reading the track number from the
formatted disk using the INITIALIZE
command.

Other Details

Smart Format does all of the standard
error checking. This includes a full verifi-
cation of every formatted track. If an er-
ror is detected, the program will at-
tempt to correct it up to ten times be-
fore giving up. Smart Formats final dis-
play shows the number of retries re-
quired (usually zero).

The final display also indicates four
inter-sector gap lengths (in bytes)
used during the format. Each gap val-
ue applies to an entire zone of the
disk. The track number ranges of the
four zones are 1-17, 18-24, 25-30,
and 31-35. Drives that rotate at slower
speeds will produce larger gap values.

Smart Format makes no permanent
changes in the DOS, and all drive com-
mands will function normally. The BA-
SIC program must be used to execute
the custom drive routines.

SMART FORMAT

JA 106 REM SMART FORMAT BY RUS
TIN AMBROSE
REM COPYRIGHT 1992 - CO
MPUTE PUBLICATIONS INTL
LTD - ALL RIGHTS RESER
VED
REM A$ MUST BE FIRST VA
RIABLE USED IN PROGRAM
AS="" ;COS=CHRS (8) :CRS=C
HRS (13) : VA=PEEK (45) +256
* PEEK (46)
POKE (VA+2) , 255: POKE (VA+
3) ,O:POKE(VA+4) ,192
PRINT"SETTING UP. . ."
FORAD=49176T049375: READ
X:POKEAD,X:NEXTAD
POKE53280,0:POKE53281,G
PRINT" {CLR} {8}{DOWN}";C
HRS (14)
PRINT" ***#* ee # eR HR SOMART
{SHIFT-SPACE}FORMAT V1.
GReKKK RRR RRM
PRINTCRSSPC(11)"1541 FA
ST FORMAT"CRSSPC (12) "WI
THOUT 'BUMP'"
PRINTCRSSPC(11)"BY RUST
IN AMBROSE"
PRINT"{3 DOWN}ENTER:
{2 SPACES}DISKETTE NAME
wD
PRINT" (NAME CAN HAVE MA
X OF 16 CHARS,"
PRINT" I.D. MUST BE 2 C
HARS LONG) ";CR$
: INPUTDNS,
ID$: IF (DNS="")OR(IDS=""
) THENEND
LN=LEN (DNS) : IFLN>16THEN
PRINTCRS"~-NAME TOO LON
G.":GOTO226
IFLEN (ID$) <> 2THENPRINTC
R$"--I.D. NOT 2 CHARACT
ERS LONG.":GOTO226
CSS="NG:"+DNS+CHRS (44) +
IDS+CHRS$ (13) :CL=LEN(CS$
) :POKE49175,CL
FORI1=1TOCL: POKE49151+1
1,ASC (MID$(CS$,I1,1)+C6
$) :NEXTI1
360 :

CE 110
RJ 126
136

146

158
169

176
186

196

268

216

226

236
246

256

260

BH 270

RJ 286

FP 290

ED

QF
sQ

HJ

FS

EG

BS

BX

XG

FK

cP

KJ
AG
XF
DE
KS

Jc

cc

XB

EC
EP

QM

FX

JQ

FR
XF
AE
BA

DJ

HB

310
326

336

348

356

360

376

386

396

400

416
420
436
440
450

460

476

486

499
508

514

520

536

546
558
566
576

580

590

SEPTEMBER 1992 COMPUTE

CLOSE15:0PEN15,8,15
PRINT#15,"M-R"CHRS (34) ;
COS$:GET#15,T$:IFASC (TS+
COS) THEN380
PRINTCRS"**INTERNAL TRA
CK COUNTER OF DRIVE NEE
Ds" :
PRINT"{2 SPACES}TO BE I
NITIALIZED."

PRINT"{2 SPACES}PLEASE
{SPACE}INSERT ANY FORMA
TTED DISKETTE.”
PRINT"{2 SPACES}THE DIS
KETTE WILL NOT BE AFFEC
TED**":GOSUB630
PRINT#15,"I@":GOSUB700:
GOTO326
PRINTCRS"**PLACE DISKET
TE TO BE FORMATTED INTO
"

PRINT"{2 SPACES }DRIVE**
";GOSUB630

PRINT#15,"M-R"CHRS (33) 7
CO$:GET#15,WPS:IFASC (WP

$+CGS) ANDL6THEN430
PRINTCRS"~-WRITE PROTEC
T IS ON."

PRINT"~-REPLACE DISKETT
E.":GOSUB636:GOTO409
PRINTCRS"**PLEASE CHECK
THAT DISKETTE IN"
PRINT"{2 SPACES}DRIVE S
HOULD BE FORMATTED."
PRINT"{2 SPACES}ALL DAT
A WILL BE DESTROYED!**"
PRINTCRSSPC(7) "(HIT SPA
CE BAR TO FORMAT": GOSUB
640

PRINT#15, "M-R"CHRS (34) ¢
CG$:GET#15,TS:1FASC (TS+
CGS) =OTHEN336
PRINT#15,"M-R"CHRS (3G) 7
COS:GET#15,WPS$: IF (ASC (W
PS$+C@$) AND16) =OTHEN416
PRINTCRS$"--FORMATTING *
"png", "IDs"! . 4"
PRINT#15,"M-W"CHRS (28) ;
COS;CHRS (1) ;COS
OPEN2,8,2,"#1":PRINT#15
,"B-P";2;0:PRINT#2,AS;:
CLOSE2
PRINT#15,"M-E"CHRS (28) ;
CHR$ (4) :GOSUB740
PRINTCRS"DONE!

{3 SPACES}[I.S. GAPS: "

PRINT#15,"M-R"CHRS (5) CH
R$ (6) CHRS (4)
FORI1=0T03:GET#15,G$:G(
I1) =ASC (G$+C@S) :NEXTI1
FORI1=3TOGSTEP~1: PRINTG
(11) ;:NEXTI1:PRINT"]"
PRINTSPC(10)"(# OF RE-T
RIES=:";
PRINT#15,"M-R"CHRS (32)C
HRS (6) :GET#15,ER$:ER=AS
C(ERS+CGS)
PRINT1G-ER"]"

G-33

PROGRAMS

SSE RE ESS RT IE SE TET

RH 666 SI SUL IS e ah DLINER CCFA:D@ DC A2 06 C8 BO 67 62 C5
aT 7R?**" >GOSUB630 CD@2:C9 GG FO G7 9D 35 G3 EB Cl
:GOTO220 ; ; Q

cH 610 : By Danie! Liamnet CbIz:AB 88 88 8C 34 G3 30 40 39

MH 626 : Here's alittle program that youcan have | Coia:cp aD A7 @2 8D AS o2 AD EL

SA 630 PRINTCRS$SPC(7)"(HIT spa | funwith by devising a variety of useful ap- | cp22:a8 62 8D AA G2 AD C2 62 3D
CE BAR TO CONTINUE" plications. DLiner is a utility that can con- | cp2a:8D A7 G2 AD C3 62 8D A8 7B

SF 646 (ePAcRyERAIaee 'E' TO vert any area of memory into lines of BA- cbe28a2 ap Ba He ep A8 G2 au Ba
SPACE }EXIT)" SIC data statements. These lines can | CD3A:9D F DasCD AD AS.E

BK €6y Gorse rees="n"pHENCLosE | then be saved and used just Ike any BA- GRUNT Ae DATOS ee net ee eee
15:END SIC program data. CD52:A2 GG DD 95 CF FO 06 EB 8B

QF 679 IFIS<>" "THENG6G DLiner is written in machine language. CD5A:E0 BA DG FG 66 CB CC 34 66

JA 680 RETURN To enter it, you'll need MLX, our machine | CD62: 63 pe EA AD 34 63 C9 G5 32

GR 696 : language entry program. See "Typing | CD6A:96 1c AG GO BO 35 63 DO EB

eee SLIPELEGEHHOTT or nia | AldS” elsewhere in thie section. When | SD/2#28 CF Bd. 03 Ae ect ne peta

eaerae SE ROREMDET ve Eeco a MLX prompts for the starting and ending | cpg2:ra a3 4c 6E cD 60 EA AS 37
ISHN aaoat aps addresses, respond with the following. | cpga:ao 8p A7 @2 8D AB G2 AG 52

KB 72 PRINT"'"E25"" DRACKS"B3 CD92:0 AE 34 63 CA BD 8B CP C4
$" SECTOR#"E4$:CLOSE15: | Starting address: CCA2 CD9A:8D AA 62 BD 96 CF 8D AB 4E
END Ending address: CFFE CDA2:02 B9 35 03 8C AC G2 38 D7

PS 730: r CDAA:E9 36 A8 18 CO GG FO 17 DE
; CDB2:18 AD A7 @2 6D AA @2 8D 82

aout eg A aa ae Be sure to save a copy of the program | cpBa:a7 62 AD AB @2 6D AB G2 GA
Ss Baotegs es) SK before you exit MLX. CDC2:8D AB 62 88 4C AD CD ac 79
rly , rr, - : A 3 a

BD 750 DATA2G8,247,160,70,162, To use DLiner, load it with the ,8,1 ex Sees a on oe ca Be 2 pe os
193,169,132,32,93,4,32, | tension, type NEW, and press Return. EELS Chee AN aakeswanaas
48,6,166,13 You can then go ahead and load anoth- :

! CDE2:8D AA 62 AD A7 G2 85 FB 57

AB 760 DATAL62,238,169,61,32,9 | er program. When you're ready to con- CDEA:AD A8 62 85 FC A9 GG 8D 3c
SPOUSE OEE vert an area of memory to data state- | CDF2:AB G2 A9 28 8D AE G2 A9 71

z E ments, simpl e SYS 52386, SA, FA, | CDFA:23 8D AF G2 A9 G1 8D AC BA

Hae Baprenciern alan Heal GANS thé tena address of the area | CE@2:02 AS 08 8D AD G2 AD 03 BG
G,6,169,123,141,1,6,169 Sg f CEGA:8D BG 62 A9 G8 BD Bl G2 51
14,32 you want to convert, and EA is that ar- | cai2:a¢ oo aD BO G2 85 FD AD 90

HG 786 DATA210,266,76,64,238,1 | ea's ending address. f CE1A:B1 62 85 FE AD AE G2 91 6F
6 CE a OY 141, To convert the information that ap-

3,6,162, ears on a screen, for example, type

AH 796 DATA189, 255, 255,157,48, | Sve 52386, 1024, 2023 and peete.
6,232, 200,204,3,6,208,2 t Dlinerthee fes 1000 dat
43,169,96,157 urn. DLiner then creates ata

AS 800 DATA48,6,96,165,81,16,1 statements, starting with line 9000. Add-
9,169,6,141,33,6,169,15 | ing a few lines of code to read and
ee mata 7 poke these same data statements GucotcheaiiGinaecnraaeeceo ca

KG 818 DATA6,16 6,1 32,6 back into memory will re-create the E62: Fi
69,1,133,81,160,0,269,5 Le SCH IiIel if is CEG6A:AD AB G2 C9 10 DO DS 26 36
G,240,13 SEEN CE72:26 CF 4C 14 CE 8D 2F CB B8

JM 820 DATA2G1,2,268,6,174,38, DLiner can also be used to convert | C7a:82 2 CB A2 69 8E 26 CB 1D
6,142,4,6,76,251,250,20 machine language code. If you write a | ce82:A6 BGO AD 2E CB DD A8 CF 2¢
1,1,246 machine language program, you can | CE8A:AD 2F CB FD A9 CF 90 GF EG

AX 8306 DATAS2,165,68,74,74,74, | convert it to data statements and either gegeene ae ee Bs ae eB ED Ba ae
ENP OHSAS Nae ta run the statements with a BASIC load- CEA2:CA FO 10°C9 BG FO G3 8D SD

RC 846 DATA157,5,6,141,38,6 32 | @f or combine them to run with other | ceaa:2a cB 2c 20 cB 30 @4 AQ A3

43/12,28,41,31,9 | Subroutines. CEB2:60 FO 05 29 7F 20 BE CE 88
eo ee ee CEBA:CA 16 C5 60 8C B4 G2 AG 5C
, :

RD 85 DATA141,12,28,169,255,1 | DLINER CEC2:09 91 FD 20 CC CE AC B4 36
41,3,28,169,85,141,1,28 CECA:02 66 18 AS FD 69 Gl 85 FB
Neaieatanes! (aa RED CCA2:D8 26 7D CF A@ GG A2 GG a7 | CED2:FD AS FE 69 96 85 FE 68 C3
1162,2,

CCAA:A9 6G C8 CG FF DG FB AG 1a | CEDA:A5 FB CD A9 G2 FO G3 4c C4

SOLE EU NOTA HEEL TEE Gall (CORD TGp RRLED CPED ET EAT aD coeam | OHEDT 672 CRAs tectcphaavanien! 7A
gee CCBA:69 91 C9 GA DG EC AD G6 BE | CBEA:03 4C 67 CE 20 26 CF AQ D9

Ccc2:2 C9 2C DG 11 AG BO BO 27 es et ae ee os ED ee 3u 3

Rustin Ambrose's initial goal with ene ies be o aS re a aa a2 oe GFOS:A5 FEU 69" 90 8S OK AS 2D. BE

Smart Format was to protect his drives CCDA:FE 8C 34°93 88 ac C4 02 cr | CFOA:85 2F 85 31 A5 2E 85 30 1D

from the excessive head bumping that | ccz2:29 4D cb AD A7 G2 8D C2 97 | CF12:85 32 Ad G@ B9 A4 CF 99 AE

can occur during formatting. He lives | ccea:g2 aD A8 G2 8D C3 G2 AC 52 CF1A:77 62 cB co ee oh Be Be BG

in West Allis, Wisconsin. CCF2:C4 62 C8 B9 G7 G2 C9 2c 24 | CF22:C6 4C 66 FE A B

G-34 COMPUTE SEPTEMBER 1992

CF2A:62 A9 GB 91 FD 26 CC CE 27
CF32:A5 FD 8D B® G2 AS FE 8D 13
CF3A:Bl 62 AD AC 62 85 FD AD 83
CF42:AD 62 85 FE AD BG @2 91 9F
CF4A:FD AD Bl 62 C8 91 FD A@ D3
CF52:96 AD BO G2 85 FD 8D AC 7F
CF5A:02 AD Bl @2 8D AD 62 85 69
CF62:FE°A9 G@ 91 FD C8 91 FD 39
CF6A:AG 6G 26 CC CE 26 CC CE 8A
CF72:A5 FD 8D B® 62 AS FE 8D 53
CF7A:Bl 62 68 A@ 66 BO B3 CF A7
CF82:20 D2 FF C8 CG 4C DB FS 42
CF8A:66 G1 GA 64 E8 10 BG GB AD
CF92:60 G3 27 38 31 32 33 34 C7
CF9A:35 36 37 38 39 36 35 35 OF
CFA2:33 35 4C 49 53 54 @D Gl 4E
CFAA:6@ GA 96 64 66 E8 63 16 CC
CFB2:27 OD 54 48 45 26 44 4C B7
CFBA:49 4E 45 52 @D 43 4F 50 C4
CFC2:59 52 49 47°48 54 26 31 46
CFCA:39 39 32 26 43 4F 4D 50 DF
CFD2:55 54 45 OD 50 55 42 4C 54
CFDA:49 43 41 54 49 4F 4E 53 D4
CFE2:20 49 4B 54 4C 20 4C 54 C3
CFEA:44 6D 41 4C 4C 206 52 49 AD
CFF2:47 48 54 53 26 52 45 53 36
CFFA:45 52 56 45 44 96 69 04 13

Daniel Lightner is a frequent contribu-
tor. He lives in Sidney, Montana.

XLOGIC

By Richard Penn

Merge and renumbering utilities all have
their place, but a good debugger is a
tool that no programmer should be with-
out, Although it's not absolutely neces-
sary for short programs, using one can
save you a great deal of time when you're
writing lengthy code.

XLogic is a BASIC debugging tool
that's simple enough to be used by nov-
ices, yet powerful enough to meet the
needs of even the most demanding pro-
grammer. It has no gimmicks, only the
bare essentials—the bare essentials to lo-
cate and blow any bug off the silicon land-
scape, that is.

First, it enhances the LIST command
to display in color the paths of all GOTO
statements, IF/THEN statements, and oth-
er branches. This lets you follow a pro-
gram's logic at a glance, even if you're
viewing someone else's program for the
first time. A description doesn't do justice
to its power. After using it, you'll feel half-
blind looking at a conventional listing.

If you need a closer look at program
flow, the trace routine shows each line
and highlights every statement as it ex-
ecutes. Up to four variables (including ar-
ray variables) can be displayed inside

the trace window. The window can be
placed at the top or at the bottom of
your screen so that it won't overwrite
something important. Finally, the speed
of the trace can be varied, and the code
can be single-stepped. You can also
dump all the variables and functions, col-
or-coded by type, into memory.

Typing It In

XLogic is written entirely in machine lan-
guage. To enter it, you'll need to use
MLX, our machine language entry pro-
gram; see “Typing Aids" elsewhere in
this section. When MLX prompts you, re-
spond with the values given below.

Starting address: CO00
Ending address: CBF7

When you've finished typing, be sure
to save a copy of the program before
exiting MLX.

Four Commands

To use XLogic, just follow these simple
steps. Load the program with a com-
mand of the following form: LOAD
“XLOGIC",8,1. Of course, you should
replace XLOGIC with whatever name
you used when you saved the XLogic
data. Type NEW. Activate the program
with SYS 49152.

XLogic’s features are easily ac-
cessed with four new commands that
work only in direct mode. You're limited
to one XLogic command per line,
which can be abbreviated by typing
the left arrow (€) and the first letter
(or as many characters after these ini-
tial two as you like).

Both “LIST and “TRACE activate
debugging modes, as opposed to
most commands that perform an imme-
diate function. You can program normal-
ly in either mode. Apart from the en-
hanced features, you won't even know
one of these features is on unless you
list or run a program.

Only one mode can be used at a
time, so activating a new mode will re-
place the current one. Run/Stop-Re-
store won't disable a mode. To turn off
either mode, use the “OFF command.

The command <VAR is always
available and is unaffected by
OFF. XLogic itself will remain active
until you shut off the computer.

The command LIST turns on

branch mapping. A branch is any
point where a BASIC program jumps to
another line and is done with the
GOTO, GOSUB, IF/THEN, ON/GOTO,
or ON/GOSUB commands.

Most cross-reference utilities print a
line-number list, which is not very use-
ful. XLogic highlights branches in col-
or within the listing so that you can see
where each branch goes and continue
programming normally at the same
time. In this mode, the LIST command
changes the screen color to black and
lists everything in light blue, but it
prints all branches and the lines they ref-
erence in matching colors.

For example, let’s look at this simple
program.

10 PRINT “‘XLOGIC”
20 PRINT
30 FOR T= 1 TO 10: NEXT : GOTO 10

With “LIST, GOTO 10, all of line 10
would be listed in white. The rest of the
program would be light blue.

The key to reading a colored listing
is the line number, which is always
light blue unless some other line branch-
es to it. Whenever you see a line num-
ber (and the rest of the line, since
lines match their line-number color)
that isn't light blue, you know that
there's at least one command some-
where in the program that jumps to
this line. It's then a simple matter of
matching up all the branch commands
of the same color with the line that's
that color. If all this sounds confusing,
don't worry; it will become obvious
when you see it on the screen.

The 64 has 16 colors, so there's a lim-
it to how many branches can be
mapped. Since light blue is the neutral
color and characters are invisible if
they're the same color as the screen,
that leaves 14 free. However, “LIST
also uses reverse video, so a total of 28
different branches can be displayed. If
there are more than 28 branches, the sur-
plus branches are all highlighted in
light blue reverse video. So although
they're still shown, you can't tell different
jumps apart. This isn’t a serious
problem, because “LIST only cross-
references the lines you list.

If you type LIST alone, the entire pro-
gram is cross-referenced. But if you
type a command such as LIST 100-

SEPTEMBER 1992 COMPUTE G-35

PROGRAMS

SL ST IE TL PS I SE TASS TET

200, only the lines 100-200 are cross-
referenced,

Since “LIST cross-references branch-
es on a first-come-first-served basis,
don't be surprised if the colors
change when you're listing different
groups of lines, Although the colors
may be different, the program listing is
still accurate.

There are two error messages that
you can get with “LIST. The first is an
UNDEFINED BRANCH error message
with the offending line printed beneath.
This happens when there's a branch
command with a syntax error some-
where in the program, such as GOTO
with a missing line number. Simply cur-
sor up to the line, correct it, and list
again.

It's rare that anyone will see the sec-
ond error, which occurs when there are
too many branches. This shouldn't be
confused with the 28-branch color lim-
it. Although “LIST is able to display on-
ly 28 different branches, it can handle
over 1300 internally. Few programs for
the 64 need this many branches, but
©LISTwill inform you if you ever exceed
this limit! Should that occur, simply list
smaller groups of lines.

The command “TRACE turns on
the execution trace. This mode displays
a trace window whenever you run a pro-
gram. Use it to see exactly what a pro-
gram is doing as it runs and to find out
when and why variables are changing.

Also, if you get a syntax error but
can't tell what's wrong with the line in
question, “TRACE will show you ex-
actly where the program stopped.

The command “TRACE prompts
you for several settings. If you change
your mind during this procedure,
press Run/Stop-Restore to cancel.
First, it asks you if you want the trace
window to be at the top or at the bot-
tom of the screen. This lets you put it
where it won't overwrite anything impor-
tant. Next, you're prompted to select
the execution speed. You have the
choice of running the program at the
fastest possible speed (normal), slow-
er (delay), or slowest, (single step)
through the code.

When single-stepping, hit any key
on the keyboard (hold it down for con-
tinuous execution) to execute the next
command. If you single-step a pro-
gram that waits for a keypress with the

G-36 COMPUTE SEPTEMBER 1992

GET command, remember to hold
down the key the program expects
when the trace reaches the GET. (It's
better to avoid single-stepping pro-
grams with many GET commands.)

Regardless of which speed you se-
lect, keep in mind that a traced pro-
gram runs slower than normal, so hold
down all keys including Run/Stop until
they catch.

You also have the option of display-
ing up to four variables during the
trace. To enter the variables, type
them in the order that you want them to
appear and separate them with a
slash (/). An entry such as A/B/C/
BOX(A,B,C) is legal and still counts as
only four variables, since BOX(A,B,C)
prints only one value.

If you accidentally enter an illegal var-
iable and run the program, the trace
will stop and display an error beside
the variable it doesn’t understand. If
this happens, use the “TRACE com-
mand again to enter the correct varia-
bles. Also, strings must be less than 36
characters in length, or they won't fit in-
side the window.

To try out the various trace options,
enter and run this short program.

10 A=1: B=2: C=3: D=4; E=5: F=6: G=7: H=8:
GOTO 10

The command “TRACE uses light
blue to display the current line and var-
iables and highlights commands in
white as they're executed. If these col-
ors conflict with your program's
screen color, change it temporarily
while you debug your program. Also
note that the LIST command won't
work properly with “TRACE on.

The command “VAR dumps all non-
array variables and functions in mem-
ory, color-coded by variable type, to
the screen. Functions are followed by
the notation FN.

The command *OFF disables all
XLogic commands except for “VAR.

Debugging BASIC with ML
XLogic is a BASIC debugging tool. If
your program uses any machine lan-
guage routines, there might be a mem-
ory conflict.

Note that XLogic resides from 49152
to 52208, downloads and modifies BA-
SIC ROM, and changes several vec-

tors. It also uses all of the RAM under-
neath Kernal ROM and part of the cas-
sette buffer as work areas. ML is safe
to use with XLogic, provided that it isn't
located in any of these potential trou-
ble spots.

XLOGIC

C6G0:4C B8 CA G8 8D 34 63 8E 81
CGO08:35 G3 8C 36 63 AD 4B G3 42
C619:D6 46 A2 FF BS OG 9D Fl BA
CG18:CB CA E@® G2 D@ F6 AD G1 25
CG26:8D 4B G3 AS 5F 85 FD A5 AB
CG628:66 85 FE A5 15 8D 48 G3 D7
CG30:C9 FF D@ G8 AY FE 8D 3F D4
CG38:63 4C 41 CO AS 14 8D 3F 5A
C046:63 26 A2 Cl A2 FF BD Fl 3E
CG48:CB 95 @@ CA EG G2 DG F6 69
CG56:A9 6G 85 FD A9 FO 85 FE 52
CG58:A9 6G 8D 3A G3 8D 21 DG 65
CG6G:A9 BE 8D 86 G2 AD OG 85 9G
CO68:FB A9 EG 85 FC AG GG CB FO
CG76:26 DE C@ C9 FF D@ 65 AD 65
CG78:GE 4C BF CO 88 20 DE Co 5B
CG86:CD 35 G3 DO G9 CB 2G DE 2E
CG88:CO CD 34 G3 FO GE A2 G3 9C
C696:E6 FB DG G2 E6 FC CA DG 5G
CG98:F7 4C 6D CO C8 24 DE CO 28
CGAG:C9 GB DB BC AD BE 8D 86 G9
COA8:62 AY 12 85 C7 4C C2 CB ES
COBG:C9 GF 96 G7 38 E9 GE A2 85
C@B8:12 86 C7 AA BD 63 CB 8D A7
C6CG:86 G62 AD 86 G2 8D 4D G3 OB
C@C8:A5 C7 8D 4C 63 AD 34 G3 BF
CODG:AE 35 G3 AC 36 63 28 85 BS
C6D8:62 86 63 4C Dl BD 78 A2 77
CGEG:34 86 G1 Bl FB A2 36 86 B6
CGOE8:61 58 66 G8 8D 37 G3 8E 6B
COFG:38 G3 8C 39 63 A6 D4 DG Al
COF8:61 AE 3A 63 EG G1 90 25 OF
C166:C9 3A D@ 13 AD BG 8D 3A E4
C108:63 AD 4C 63 85 C7 AD 4D 26
C110:63 8D 86 62 4c 5A Cl EG 99
C118:62 DG 3F C9 2C DG G3 20 29
C120:67 Cl 4¢ 5A Cl 4c 57 C4 AQ
C128:29 C9 8D FG 25 C9 A7 DG £3
C136:12 C8 Bl SF C9 26 FG F9 C5
C138:C9 34 96 1E C9 3A BG 1A 53
C140:4C 52 Cl C9 91 DB 13 AD F2
C148:62 8D 3A G3 26 67 Cl 4c 16
C156:5A Cl A9 G1 8D 3A G3 26 32
C158:67 Cl AD 37 63 AE 38 G3 6F
C16G:AC 39 G3 28 4c 1A A7 AO 2F
C168:06 85 C7 AG GG 78 A2 34 AB
C176:86 61 Bl FD A2 36 86 @1 89
C178:58 C9 66 DB BC
C186:86 62 A9 12 85 C7 4c 9B 9D
C188:Cl C9 OF 96 67 38 EO GE 45
C19G6:A2 12 86 C7 AA BD 63 CB 55
C198:8D 86 62 E6 FD D@ G2 £6 51

C1C6:3F 63 D@ G3 EE 46 G3 AG GE
C1C8:66 Bl FD 8D 41 63 C8 Bl AA
C1DG:FD 8D 42 63 C8 C8 Bl FD F9

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C220:F9
C228: 06
C236: 43
C238:A9
C240:63
C248:C4
C250:FD
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C260:63
C268:C9
C270:61
C278: 36
C280:84
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C2E6: 63
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C2F8:65
C360:48
C368:85
C310:66
C318:C8
C320:C8
C328:36
C330:E6
C338:9B
C340:C9
C348:58
C350:C8
C358: 3B
C360:9B
C368:63
C376:FC
C378:3B
C380:EE
C388:90
C390:48
C398:62
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C3C8: G3
C3D6:85
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C670:DG
C678:2D
C680:CO
C688:00
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C698:64
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C6BG:BE
C6B8: 07
C6C0: 63
C6C8:18
C6DG:CA
C6D8:C6
C6EG:FO
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C720:28
C728:F1

C748:8D
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FE

SEPTEMBER 1992 COMPUTE

PROGRAMS

CB8A8:A9
C8BG:99

C8C8:C9
C8DG:A7
C8D8:8D
C8EG:A9
C8E8:01
C8FG: 26
C8F8:A9
C966:CF
C968:36
C916:26
C918:4Cc
C92G:41
C928:8D
C93G:A5
C938:A5
C946:C5
C948:8D
C958:03
C958:63
C960:86
C968:96
C979:67
C978:88
C98G:A9
C988:C9
C998:D2
C998:C9
C9AG:G5
C9OA8:FE
C9BG:895
C9B8:9G
C9CG8:28
C9C8:FF
C9DG: 26
C9D8:63
C9EG:D4
C9E8: G3
C9OFG: 26
C9F8:A9
CAGG:A5
CAG8:63
CA16:7B
CA18:97
CA26:FC
CA28: 44
CA3@:4C
CA38:AD
CA4G:CA
CA48:A2
CASO:E8
CAS8:AA
CA66:85
CA68:62
CA76:BD
CA78:8D
CA8G:A9
CA88:27
CA9G:ED

G-38

rea
AT
8D

COMPUTE SEPTEMBER 1992

CA98:G3
CAAG@:8D
CAA8:A9
CABG: 5B
CAB8:A9
CAC@:DC
CAC8: FE
CADG:59

AVSNUuAnnauvnvan

CBEG:58
CBE8:49
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54
12
3F
52
92
52
4c
gD
41
42
4E
54
4P
41
2F
OD
43
41
4c
49
@D
44
6D
ot)

Richard Penn is a prolific Commodore
programmer. He lives in Montreal, Que-
bec, Canada.

POLYGONS

a

the other possible parameters.

Typing It In

Polygons is written entirely in BASIC for
the 64 or 128 in 64 mode. To help
avoid typing errors, enter the program
with The Automatic Proofreader; see
“Typing Aids” elsewhere in this sec-
tion. Be sure to save a copy of the pro-
gram before you exit Proofreader.

Calculating

Simply load and run Polygons and
then answer the prompts. Suppose
you have an octagon, for example, and
you know that each of the eight sides
is 5 inches long. Enter this information,
and Polygons will compute the diago-
nal (13.06 inches), the width (12.07 inch-
es), the area (120.71 square inches),
and the internal angle (135 degrees).
If you know any one of these parame-
ters, Polygons can calculate the oth-
ers. Of course, diagonals and widths ar-
en't meaningful for polygons with an
odd number of sides.

The mathematics is straightforward
though probably not of everyday famil-
iarity. If you do architectural design or
have a use for plane geometry of this
level, the program should save you
many hours of calculation.

POLYGONS

AP @ REM COPYRIGHT 1992 -~ COMP
UTE PUBLICATIONS INTL LTD
- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
5 PRINTCHRS (5) "{CLR}
{11 SPACES}*** POLYGONS *
ek

QB

16
26

FQ
FK

PRINTCHRS (158)
PRINT" {14 SPACES}NEEEEEE
EEM"

PRINT"{11 SPACES}A N

{10 sSPACES}M"

PRINT"{12 SPACES}YA=INT

JA 30

FK 50

By Rowland Medler

There have been many programs pub-
lished for computing the parameters of tri-
angles, even those that aren't right tri-
angles, but few if any have been pub-
lished for polygons with more than three
sides. In case you don't remember your
high school geometry, a polygon is any
closed plane surrounded by three or
more usually straight sides.

Polygons works with any multisided fig-
ure that has four or more sides of equal
length. If you know one dimension of the
polygon, this program will compute all

KC

JF

KC

sD

KP

JX
BD

BG

52

55

57

66

76

75

166

116

{SPACE}ANGLE T "

PRINT"AB=DIAGONAL ¥<** W

IDTH**>T"

PRINT" {12 SPACES}Y

{2 SPACES}(A R E A) 1"

PRINT"{13 SPACES}M

{16 SPACES}N B"

PRINT"{14 SPACES}M

{2 SPACES}SIDE{2 SPACES}

nN"

PRINT" {15 SPACES }EEEEEEE

EB" args

PRINTCHRS (5)
INPUT"NUMBER OF SIDES="
Ah
IFSI<4THENPRINT"THIS PR

HJ

DS

JA

AC

AE

QM

Qu

126
136
149
158
166
17G
186
198
296
216
226
236
246
256

268

276

288

296

398

316

328
336
346

356
366
376

386

396

406

OGRAM REQUIRES 4 OR MOR
E SIDES.":END
PRINT"I ALREADY KNOW: (

ONE ONLY)"

PRINT"{16 SPACES}1) SID
EB"

PRINT"{16 SPACES}2) WID
TH"

PRINT"{16 SPACES}3) DIA
G."

PRINT"{16 SPACES}4) ARE
A"

INPUT"CATEGORY NUMBER="
;CA

IF CA=(1)THEN220:GOTO19
0
IF CA=(2)THEN330:GOTO26
)
IF CA=(3)THEN410:GOTO21
G

IF CA=(4)THENS1@
C=360/SI

A=(180-C) /2
INPUT"SIDE DIMENSION
7SD

R= (SD/SIN(C/(18G6/])))*S
IN (A/(186/])

IF (SI) /2<>INT(SI/2) THE
NPRINT"DIAG. AND WIDTH
{SPACE}ARE NOT MEANINGF
UL FOR{2 SPACES}ODD";
IF (SI)/2<>INT(SI/2) THE
NPRINT" NUMBERS OF SIDE
S BECAUSE THEY DO NOTPA
ss";

IF (SI/2)<>INT(SI/2) THE
NPRINT"THROUGH THE CENT
ER.":GOTO310

PRINT "DIAGONAL

{7 SPACES}=";:PRINT2*(R

="

)

PRINT"WIDTH{16 SPACES}=
";:PRINT2* (SIN (A/ (1860/7.
)))* (R)

PRINT"AREA{11 SPACES}="
;2PRINT (SI) *(SD)* (SIN(
A/(180/T)))*(R)/2
PRINT" INTERNAL ANGLE
7180-(366/SI) :GOTO620
INPUT"WIDTH{1@ SPACES}=
";WD

IF (SI) /2<>INT (SI/2) THEN
PRINT"YOU CAN'T SAY WID
TH OF ODD SIDED FIGURE.
"SEND

H=WD/2

C=366/S1/2
PRINT"SIDE{11 SPACRS}="
} : PRINT 2* (H* (TAN (C/ (186
7))))

PRINT" DIAGONAL

{7 SPACES}=";:PRINT H/C
OS (C/(18G/T)) *2
PRINT"AREA{11 SPACES}="
7: PRINT (H* (TAN (C/ (1860/7
)))) *H*ST

PRINT" INTERNAL ANGLE ="
7180-(366/SI) :GOTO626

AH

EC

FK

BA

Qu
HS
BQ
QH
SH
FR
SA
EP

CQ

PE

PK

JQ

RE

BM

PD

EQ
JP
BK

HC

FS

PE

419
426

430
446

456

460

476

486

496
506
516
526
530
540
550
566

570

580

596

666

6108

626

625

6368
646
650

66935 AS=""

69640

60050

INPUT" DIAGONAL

{7 SPACES}=";DI
B=360/S1/2

A=90-B

IF (SI/2) <>INT (SI/2) THEN
PRINT"YOU CAN'T DEFINE
{SPACE}WIDTH OR DIAG OF
ODD ";

IF (SI/2) <>INT (SI/2) THEN
PRINT"{2 SPACES}SIDED F
IGURE.":END
PRINT"WIDTH{1@ SPACES}=
"5 :PRINT (DI) *SIN(A/ (180

7)
PRINT"SIDE{11 SPACES}="
7 PRINT ((DI/2)*COS (A/(1
80/1)))*2
AR=((DI) *SIN(A/(186/T) )
)* ((DI/2) *COS (A/ (18871)
))*S1/2
PRINT"AREA{11 SPACES}="
72 PRINT (AR)
PRINT" INTERNAL ANGLE
7180-(360/S1) :GOTO620
INPUT"AREA{11 SPACES}="
7AR
AT=AR/SI1/2
B=360/S1/2
A=90-B
PRINT"SIDE{11 SPACES}="
72* (SQR (2*AT*TAN (B/ (186
7¥))))
IF (SI/2) =INT (SI/2)THENS
90
IF (SI) /2<>INT((SI)/2)TH
ENPRINT"ODD NUMBER SIDE
S HAS NO WIDTH OR";
PRINT" DIAG.{2 SPACES}D
EFINED.":GOTO616
PRINT "DIAGONAL
{7 SPACES}=";2* (SQR(2*A
T*TAN (B/(186/T)))) /SIN(
B/(186/])
PRINT"WIDTH{1@ SPACES}=
"s (SQR(2*AT*TAN (B/(186/
T)))) *#PAN (A/ (180/T) ) *2
PRINT" INTERNAL ANGLE ="
7180-(360/SI)
INPUT"ANOTHER PROBLEM (
A), HARDCOPY (H) OR
{4 SPACES}QUIT (Q)";E$
IFES$<>"A"ANDES<>"H"ANDE
$<>"Q"/THENPRINT"* ONLY
{SPACE}'A' OR 'H' OR 'Q
' *":GOT062G
IFES="A"THENGOTOG
IFES$="H"THENGOSUB60035
IFES="Q"THENPRINTCHRS (3
G):PRINT"{CLR}* THANKS.
I'D BE GLAD TO HELP AG
AIN *":END
OPEN4,4:2=1623:
FORY=6T0 24: FORX=8T039
2Z=Z+1
CH=PEEK (2) : 1ECH>128TH
ENCH=CH-128
IFCH<320RCH>95THENCH=
CH+64:GOTO6G076

RK 606660 IFCH>63ANDCH<96THENCH
=CH+32

SH 60070 AS=AS+CHRS (CH) :NEXT:P
RINT#4,AS:AS=""sNEXT:
CLOSE4

Rowland Medler devised this program
when an architect requested the
length of an eight-sided auditorium
whose area was 10,000 square feet.
Medler is 74 years old and lives in
Gainesville, Florida. a

—

TYPING AIDS

MLX, our machine language entry program
for the 64 and 128, and The Automatic
Proofreader are utilities that help you type
in Gazette programs without making mis-
takes. To make room for more programs,
we no longer include these labor-saving util-
ities in every issue, but they can be found
on each Gazette Disk and are printed in all
issues of Gazette through June 1990.

If you don't have access to a back is-
sue or to one of our disks, write to us, and
we'll send you free printed copies of both
of these handy programs for you to type in.
We'll also include instructions on how to
type in Gazette programs. Please enclose
a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
Send a self-addressed disk mailer with
appropriate postage to receive these pro-
grams on disk.

Write to Typing Aids, COMPUTE's Ga-
zette, 324 West Wendover Avenue, Suite
200, Greensboro, North Carolina 27408,

ONLY ON DISK

Here is the bonus program you'll find
on this month's Gazette Disk.

Weather Plus 128
By George E. Black
Adrian, MO '
Use your 80-column 128 to record tem-
peratures, humidity, wind direction, and
other weather data to make accurate
short-range weather forecasts.

Order the September Gazette Disk.
The price is $9.95 plus $2.00 shipping
and handling. Write to Gazette Disk,
COMPUTE Publications, 324 West Wen-
dover Avenue, Suite 200, Greensboro,
North Carolina 27408.

SEPTEMBER 1992 COMPUTE G-39

HOW TO TYPE IN GAZETTE PROGRAMS

Each month, Gazette publishes pro-
grams for the Commodore 128 and 64.
Each program is clearly marked as be-
ing written for the 128, 64, or both. Be
sure to type in the correct version for
your machine. All 64 programs run on
the 128 in 64 mode. Be sure to read the
instructions in the corresponding article.
This can save time and eliminate any
questions which might arise after you be-
gin typing.

At irregular intervals, we publish two
Programs designed to make typing in
our programs easier: The Automatic
Proofreader, for BASIC programs, and a
128 and 64 version of MLX, for entering
machine language programs. In order to
make more room for programs, we do
not print these handy utilities in every is-
sue of the magazine. Copies of these pro-
grams are available on every Gazette
Disk. If you don’t have access to a disk,
write us, and we'll send you free copies
of both of these programs. Please en-
close a stamped, self-addressed enve-
lope. Write to Typing Aids, COMPUTE's
Gazette, 324 West Wendover Avenue,
Suite 200, Greensboro, North Carolina
27408.

When entering a BASIC program, be
especially careful with DATA statements,
as they are extremely sensitive to errors.
A mistyped number in a DATA state-
ment can cause your machine to “lock
up” (you'll have no control over the com-

When You Read: Press:
{CLR}
{HOME}
{UP} [sHuFr
{DOWN}
{LEFT} —CRSR
{RIGHT} unio CRSR ==
{RVS) [err |{_9 |
{OFF} [erat] [0 |
{BLK} [ss
{WHT} |
{RED} (err |[ 3]
{CN} [erat] [4]

G-40 COMPUTE SEPTEMBER 1992

puter). If this happens, the only recourse
is to turn your computer off and then on,
erasing what was in memory. This could
cause you to lose valuable data, so be
sure to save a program before you run
it. If your computer crashes, you can al-
ways reload the program and look for
the error.

Special Characters

Most of the programs listed in each is-
sue contain special control characters.
To facilitate typing in any programs
from Gazette, use the following listing
conventions.

The most common type of control char-
acters in our listings appear as words
within braces: {DOWN} means to press
the cursor-down key; {5 SPACES}
means to press the space bar five
times. {RVS} means to enter Reverse
mode by simultaneously pressing the
Ctrl key and the 9 key.

To indicate that a key should be shift-
ed (hold down the Shift key while press-
ing another key), the character is under-
lined. For example, A means hold down
the Shift key and press A. You may see
strange characters on your screen, but
that’s to be expected. If you find a num-
ber followed by an underlined key en-
closed in braces (for example, {8 A}),
type the key as many times as indicated
(in our example, enter eight shifted A's).

If a key is enclosed in special brack-

Z
g

See:
[ems] : =
ferme | [s_] I [ur] (t]
(erm ][ >]
[7] } BBD | For commodore 64 onty
T=] rj rae) [commovore] [1] Fy
(Ecc) | E23 ComMoporé](2] RR
(BB) [ses] Rag ComMoDORE| {3 |
i) Gee) | ES? coool
(55) HB) ogs3 [eoumonons [5] Fes
(F6) Mi gsa commovore] |< | fll
{F7} [7] R73 [commopore| | 7 |
{8} [sur]? ] MM] gsg [comMoporE]| 8] gm

ets, [<>], hold down the Commodore
key (at the lower left corner of the key-
board) and at the same time press the in-
dicated character.

Rarely, you'll see a single letter of the
alphabet enclosed in braces. This can
be entered on the Commodore 64 by
pressing the Ctrl key while typing the let-
ter in braces. For example, {A} means to
press Ctrl-A.

The Quote Mode

You can move the cursor around the
screen with the Crsr keys, but you may
want to move it under program control,
as in examples like {LEFT} and {HOME}
in the listings. The only way the comput-
er can tell the difference between direct
and programmed cursor control is the
quote mode.

Once you press the quote key, you're
in quote mode. It can be confusing
when you are in this mode if you
mistype a character and cursor left to
change it. You'll see a graphics symbol
for cursor left. Use the delete key to
back up and edit the line from the begin-
ning. Type another quotation mark to get
out of quote mode.

If things get too confusing, exit quote
mode by pressing Return; then cursor
up to the mistyped line and fix it. If the
mistake involves cursor movement, how-
ever, you must press the quote key to
reenter quote mode. a